CEDEM participated in the VDT meeting with representatives of the NGO sector
Nenad Koprivica, executive director of CEDEM, attended a working breakfast with representatives of the NGO sector organized by Supreme State Prosecutor Ivica Stankovic on January 21 at Villa Gorica to improve cooperation and partnerships with NGOs.
In addition to NGO representatives, the meeting was attended by Chief Special Prosecutor Milivoje Katnić; the head of the Higher State Prosecutor’s Office in Podgorica, Vesna Jovićević, and the head of the Basic State Prosecutor’s Office in Podgorica, Ljiljana Klikovac. In his address, Mr. Koprivica pointed out that the emphasis should be on the efficiency and consistency of the work of the Special State Prosecutor’s Office, warning that plea agreements should be avoided in organized crime and corruption cases, unless the prosecutor has a strong case or defendants help solve more serious cases or gather evidence against organizers. criminal groups. Also, Mr. Koprivica emphasized that:
- Cooperation between the prosecution and the police must be more efficient, in order to ensure that the prosecutorial investigation has the required quality. Special attention should be paid to the quality of evidence during the pre-trial proceedings, but also during the court proceedings, so that prosecutors do not drop the criminal prosecution in the final stages of the process.
- The work of the VDT and the Prosecutorial Council should be more transparent, which, among other things, means that decisions on the selection and dismissal of prosecutors, as well as decisions of the Commission for the Code of Ethics in the Prosecutor’s Office should be published more promptly. There are some advances in the transparency of the prosecution: the launch of the prosecutor’s portal and the regular publication of press releases.
- Public confidence in the work of the prosecutor’s office must be greater. It is necessary to provide more information on the work of courts and prosecutor’s offices in public, through greater engagement of spokespersons in prosecutor’s offices.
