Three judges left the Court of Appeal, one more will soon

The Appellate Court of Montenegro is not working at full capacity, considering that in 2024 it was left without three judges, and by the end of the year, one more judge will cease to function as a judge due to the realization of the right to an old-age pension.

The court told “Vijesta” that this problem was pointed out to the Judicial Council, as well as the necessity to elect new judges as soon as possible.

They state that the lack of judicial personnel is a particular problem they are facing, and that according to the Decision on the number of judges in the courts in Montenegro, 12 judges and the president of the court are foreseen for the Court of Appeal.

“However, in the course of 2024, the termination of the judicial function was established for three judges, and by the end of the year it is expected that the termination of the judicial function will be established for one more judge due to the realization of the right to an old-age pension, so the Court of Appeal is not working at full capacity “, the spokeswoman of the Court of Appeal told “Vijesti”., the judge Danijela Vukčević responding to questions related to the report of the specialized body of the Council of Europe – the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ), which was published last week. The report showed that the efficiency of the Montenegrin judiciary worsened in 2022, i.e. the number of old cases and the time it took to resolve cases increased. The report also stated that in 2022, Montenegro traditionally had the most judges in Europe in relation to the number of inhabitants, i.e. 42.4 judges per 100,000 inhabitants.

Vukčević announced that from the report on the work of the Court of Appeal for 2022, it follows that 1,595 out of a total of 1,626 cases were resolved that year.

“At the end of the year, 31 cases remained unresolved, which, expressed as a percentage, means that a total of 98.09 percent of all cases that were pending in this court were resolved, while only 1.91 percent remained unresolved. The average duration of the procedure in this year, from the receipt of the case to the discharge of the debt, was only 35.5 days. At the end of the year, 31 cases remained unresolved”, said Vukčević.

She pointed out that during 2023, the number of received cases increased compared to 2022.

“In this year, a total of 1,719 cases were resolved out of 1,770 cases that were in total, so that at the end of 2023, 51 cases remained unresolved. “This is an increase of 20 pending cases, which is a small number considering that a total of 1,719 cases were resolved in 2023,” Vukčević pointed out.

She emphasized that the increase in the number of pending cases from only 20 is a logical consequence of the increase in the number of cases received in the Court of Appeal.

“The promptness rate of this court, viewed through the ratio of resolved and received cases, was 98.85 percent in 2023, which points to the high efficiency of this court in resolving cases,” stated Vukčević.

She pointed out that they also have a problem with the vacancy of advisor positions, of which 13 were planned for this court, and eight were filled, which means that five advisor positions are vacant.

“The fact of the weak response of candidates for advertised vacant positions is particularly worrying,” announced Vukčević.

She said that the filling of vacant judge and adviser positions in the Court of Appeal and the operation of that court in full personnel capacity is a prerequisite for improving the efficiency in handling cases.

“In such difficult working conditions, all judges and other employees of the court make a great effort to make this court as efficient as possible, and we will continue to work on it in the coming period as this is the priority goal of the Appellate Court,” said Vukčević.

She emphasized that the conditions in which the Court of Appeal worked were difficult this year due to the reconstruction of the roof and facade of the building that houses the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal and the High Court in Podgorica, because of which the Court of Appeal was moved to the old Government building.

In six months, a significant influx of cases

Vukčević also said that during the review of the six-month report, a significant influx of cases was noted.

“The judges of the Appellate Court did not ignore this fact, but made an extra effort, so when considering the nine-month report, it was noted that a significantly higher number of cases were resolved in some reports compared to the number of cases resolved in the same period last year,” said Vukčević.

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