Skopje, 30 May 2023 (MIA) - These statements are not pleasant to hear but I assure you that we are operating according to the law and regulations have not been violated, said Judicial Council chair Sashko Georgiev after the negative assessments by Dutch Ambassador Dirk Jan Kop and President Stevo Pendarovski over the recent developments in the Council.

"If there is any doubt about corruption, competent institutions can address it," said Georgiev.

He agreed "there is room for criticism" primarily because there is still no outcome for a large portion of the sensitive cases of the Special Prosecutor's Office, saying this is "an old problem that has been dragging through for a while and is part of the general perception when it comes to the rule of law".

"I expect the Council to show results in this regard and I urge courts and primarily judges to demonstrate commitment to these sensitive cases and ensure an outcome. We are creating distrust among citizens because some cases exceed the statute of limitations and this is a real problem. I agree with the Ambassador's relevant criticism in this part. The judiciary sector must absolutely take responsibility, including the Council," said Georgiev.

On the other hand, he did not agree with the Dutch Ambassador that the dismissal of the previous chair Vesna Dameva and his appointment as new chair was unlawful.

"We know how the chair was elected, receiving a number of votes as prescribed by law, at a public session. However, the previous chair was dismissed in a way that maybe created a feeling about the procedure. The Law on Judicial Council prescribes a procedure for election of a president but not a procedure for dismissal," said Georgiev.

He said developments in the Council have not been presented as they are, but failed to give details about this claim, only saying that Dameva's dismissal came due to poor interpersonal relations and they had "decided to hold the session for the chair's dismissal behind closed doors in order to protect the integrity of some Council members".

"The public will not know the extent to which the interpersonal relations have worsened, and we wanted to protect our integrity. It turned out that the Council is hiding something. I assure you this is not the case," added Georgiev.

Regarding the announcement from the Embassy of the Netherlands that a project related to the Judicial Council's transparency and accountability would be stopped, Georgiev said he himself was involved in the project.

"We have had good cooperation and I hope it will continue in the future. Although the project has been put on hold, I expect that the positive assessments of the Judicial Council operations would be validated and the project will resume in the foreseeable future," noted Georgiev while adding that the Council is open for cooperation with embassies and relevant factors from the EU in order to upgrade its functioning in line with European values.

Photo: MIA