Minister refuses mediation in dispute with lawyers

Minister refuses mediation in dispute with lawyers

"Don't make me laugh, a union of states to mediate between a justice ministry and a guild organization in the same state. Lawyers should sit at the table with their state, they have done it and received our constructive proposal, which is more than fair. We are sticking to that proposal and we will go ahead with what we have offered," Selaković told public broadcaster RTS, the Beta news agency is reporting.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Bar Association of Serbia (AKS) said it would ask the EU Delegation to Serbia to engage in organizing and conducting mediation between the Association and the Justice Ministry to reach an agreement with the lawyers, who have been on strike for a month and a half.

Through the involvement of a third, neutral side, the lawyers intends to achieve convergence of positions and reach an agreement, all with an aim to protect the rule of law and the rights of citizens, the AKS said on Wednesday, after the meeting of its managing board.

The AKS is concerned that the legal practice in Serbia is in danger of being abolished, for the first time in its history, specifying that this concern is based on the statement made Selaković, when he described the strike as politicized and intended to protect certain tycoons.

Selaković said that the strike of lawyers had ceased to be in the interest of the profession and that it was now "a ploy by petty politicians and tycoons" who want to prevent the completion of certain trials, including that of Delta Holdong owner Miroslav Mišković, "and the state to be destabilized."

He connected the lawyers' strike, which has been going on for 50 days now, and the decision by the Higher Court to permanently return the passports Mišković, and his son Marko, who are both undergoing court proceedings.

The Delta Holding company stated that neither the company, nor its chairman Miroslav Mišković, had any connection with the current political events in Serbia, and that they were focused on investing and repairing the damage from the floods.

The president of the Bar Association of Serbia, Dragoljub Đorđević, declared that by saying the lawyers' strike is no longer about the profession, but "a ploy by petty politicians and tycoons", Justice Minister Nikola Selaković has delivered a verdict against someone before the court did.

According to Đorđević, Selaković disgraced the government with this statement, which he dubbed "scandalous."

"By creating a new affair Selaković is attempting to annul those affairs that are ongoing," he said.