Skopje, 5 January 2024 (MIA) - The Administrative Court's ruling does not call into question the validity of the decisions made by the Judicial Council as a collective body, after the decision to dismiss current president Dameva has been annulled, the Judicial Council said in a press release.

"With regards to yesterday's public statements, which open doubts as to invalidity of all acts passed since the election of Sashko Georgiev as the President of the Judicial Council and up until his resignation, and in connection with the final ruling of the Administrative Court, the Judicial Council needs to state its position that all the acts passed during this period are in legal force," reads the press release. 

Following the Judicial Council's emergency session on Wednesday, where it accepted Sashko Georgiev's resignation from the post and reinstated as president Vesna Dameva, the "All for Fair Trials" Coalition released a statement saying that the annulment of the dismissal decision renders null and void all acts, rights and obligations based on the invalidity act, which includes, among other, the decision to elect a new president.

"The Judicial Council accepted the termination of the mandate of the President of the Council and implemented the decision of the Administrative Court. In this direction, we would like to point out that the annulment of the dismissal decision, renders null and void all acts, rights and obligations based on the invalidity act, which includes, among other, the decision to elect a new president. Hence, it is unclear how the Council accepted the termination of a mandate which is considered to have never started to take effect," the "All for Fair Trial" Coalition said in a statement.

At an emergency session on Wednesdy the Judicial Council accepted Sashko Georgiev's resignation from the post of president and reinstated as president Vesna Dameva, in line with an Administrative Court's ruling that her dismissal in May 2023 had been unfounded.

The Administrative Court published its ruling saying the Judicial Council had failed to provide evidence or elaborate on any reasons underpinning the decision to dismiss Dameva.

Dameva was dismissed last spring upon a proposal of vice president Selim Ademi. After the dismissal, she filed a lawsuit to the Administrative Court.

Dameva’s dismissal caused a slew of reactions in the public and among experts from the judiciary, who said that the rules of procedure were not respected during her dismissal.

In addition, the EU deployed a peer review mission that came out with 40 recommendations on the functioning of the Judicial Council.

Photo: MIA archive