.png)
09.10.2024.
Under the organization of the Ministry of Justice, as part of the public debate on the Draft Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Criminal Code (KZ) and the Draft Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Criminal Procedure Code (ZKP), a round table was held on October 9, 2024, in Niš, at the premises of the Higher Court.
In addition to members of the Working Group of the Ministry of Justice, who drafted the proposed amendments, the round table was attended by judges, prosecutors, and civil society representatives. Judicial Base South (JBS) representatives also participated – Public Prosecutor Andrija Ivić and an attorney-at-law from Niš, Miodrag Petković. (Andrija and Miodrag are members of the JBS expert team led by Ivan Ilić, associate professor at the Department of Criminal Law Sciences at the Faculty of Law in Niš. The team also includes Mihajlo Čolak, coordinator of JBS).
Our team has worked on its proposals for amendments and supplements to the ZKP over the past year. It has previously submitted them to the Working Group of the Ministry of Justice through the mechanism of the National Convention on the EU. We believe that some proposed amendments to the ZKP are good. Some of the changes are in line with our suggestions and will improve the position of the accused, the victim, and the efficiency of the criminal procedure itself. On the other hand, we believe that some other provisions in the ZKP should also be amended, and our representatives have informed the participants about this at the mentioned public event. Here are the proposals we presented:
Judicial police and investigative centers - Plan for the establishment of investigative centers and prosecution police, which would be directly subordinate to the Public Prosecutor's Office.
Privileged witnesses - Prevent abuse of the right to abstain from testifying by privileged witnesses. Limit the summoning of the victim to refuse to give testimony as a privileged witness at the first examination.
Delivery of documents—Change the rules on delivering documents to the accused using electronic means of communication (possibly with the accused's prior consent).
Defense of the indigent - The proposal for changes presented in the Draft, which refers to Article 77 of the ZKP, is not good and will bring a lot of doubts, and is worse than the current solution.
On the decision about conducting an investigation and the decision on the dismissal of a criminal complaint, one body should decide (either the immediately higher public prosecutor's office or the court).
The period allotted for public debate is too short (30 days, while the Working Group worked on the drafts for almost three years). Although our analysis dealt exclusively with the ZKP, we fear that the entire process of public debate exists more for formality. Nevertheless, we will continue to participate in the public debate, and we will attend round tables in Kragujevac and Belgrade and resubmit our official proposals for amending the ZKP to the Ministry of Justice.