High Prosecutorial Council fails to elect organized crime prosecutors

The proposed agenda included the selection of permanent prosecutors for organized crime based on a recruitment process launched back in November 2024, which remains unfinished. In addition to the TOK appointments, the Council was also to decide on the secondment of a prosecutor to EUROJUST, as well as the permanent transfer of public prosecutors across basic, high, and appellate offices.

VST members spent over four hours in intense debate over the agenda items, but the motion ultimately failed to pass.

At the beginning of the session, Justice Minister Nenad Vujic, who is an ex-officio member of the VST, proposed postponing the session until February 27. He claimed to have information that security clearances had not been received for all candidates who had applied to be assigned to the TOK, even though the Council was not scheduled to rule on assigned prosecutors on Friday.

However, High Prosecutorial Council President Branko Stamenkovic clarified that all currently assigned prosecutors already have valid security clearances, as these are reviewed every five years and all candidates are active prosecutors.

The next VST session is scheduled for February 23, when the Council will decide on the status of assigned prosecutors, more than half of whom are currently working within the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime.

Under the newly adopted judicial laws, proposed ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) MP Ugljesa Mrdic, the authority to assign prosecutors now rests with the VST rather than the Supreme Public Prosecutor. A 30-day countdown begins this Monday; if no decision is made within that window, currently assigned prosecutors will be forced to return to their original home offices, leaving their current cases to other colleagues.

Critics warn that this move would paralyze the work of the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime. The situation has drawn sharp condemnation from legal experts, the public, and officials in Brussels. In response, TOK prosecutors have been holding ten-minute protest rallies every morning since last Tuesday in front of the Special Court building, which houses TOK offices.