Prosecutor warns of vicious circle in election of High Prosecutorial Council

The vote to elect new members of the Council was held on December 23 with complaints filed at some of the polling stations where prosecutors cast ballots. The vote was repeated in some places on February 28 with more complaints filed in what independent observers and the opposition allege is an attempt by the regime to take control of the Council. The new Council should take office on April 6.

Radovan Lazic, member of the Council and prosecutor with the Appelate Prosecutor’s Office in Novi Sad, told the portal that “we seem to have entered a situation which seems to be a vicious circle which started with the Constitutional Court ruling to repeat the vote in some places”.

He believes the VST will not be elected within the deadline set by law and the Constitutional Court will rule on the vote again.

According to him, the situation is a danger to the Council because it will have to operate with a reduced number of members since only 2 of its 5 members have been elected from the ranks of public prosecutors.

Under Serbian law, the elections for the Council have to be repeated until all its members are elected and it cannot operate if it does not have enough members for a quorum.

The High Prosecutorial Council is supposed to be an independent state body securing the independence of the Supreme Public Prosecutor, Chief Public Prosecutors and public prosecutors in general.