Matic reacts to statement of High Judicial Council

Matic reacts to statement of High Judicial Council

"The High Judicial Council considers it unacceptable that the Chairman of the Commission for investigating the killings of journalists expresses in the public statements his opinion on the proceedings that have not been terminated legally, thereby disturbing the citizens' confidence in the entire judicial system."

Dear members of the High Judicial Council, I need to inform you that the trust of citizens in the entire judicial system does not exist, and therefore cannot be violated. The large number of acquittals of serious criminals, bullies and thugs, seriously undermined the trust of citizens in judges. The public was surprised at first, then confused, and now everything makes sense to them.

It is nice that you defend your profession, regardless of the reality that has to change so that the state of Serbia can move forward, you’ve become a burden around the neck of the citizens who pay taxes and who are paying you to be independent. However, independence is not independence from common sense and reality. Independence is not the same as banning any public criticism. An independent institution is not the one that no one should criticize.

We can convince the members of the Trial Chamber that the Commission and the public of Serbia will not observe obvious bad intentions without any reaction – it will not be the case, neither now nor in the future.

Once again, we urge the public and our colleagues to pay more attention to the trials, in particular the trials in which the accused are extremely rich, we call on the state authorities to check the property of judges and related persons in accordance with the law, and publicly publish the data. Only by exercising democratic control by the public can you really be independent, and temptations are great.

The statement of the High Judicial Council presents astonishing amateurism of legal experts who would protect
themselves from criticism by declaring their profession untouchable and beyond society. Not only are they not above
society, but they should be the first to protect the highest social values.

We remind the public that the Commission for investigating the killings of journalists was founded due to the inadmissible impunity of the crimes against journalists in Serbia. The weaknesses of the institutions, political and other interests, led the journalistic profession to the situation of proposing the establishment of a body to include journalists in order to make some progress in the new synergy and to help the investigations remain open until they reach results. One of the results is the indictment for the murder of journalist, publisher and editor Slavko Curuvija. The Commission is composed of three members of the journalistic profession, three representatives of the Ministry of Interior and three representatives of the State Security Agency (BIA). Everyone in the Commission has acted in their capacity, so the Chairman of the Commission is still a journalist, and the role of the Chairman is related to the coordination of equal members of the Commission, including presenting the Commission in public. Chairman of the Commission is not a political position, the Commission is an ad hoc body, with no budget, nobody gets any compensation for their work. Statements by the Chairman of the Commission cannot be defined as political pressure, because it is not a matter of a political authority.

On the contrary, the duty of journalists in general, and in this position and responsibility, is to react to the events that are deemed wrong, or those events that represent a tendency that would lead to the continuation of impunity. Veran Matic's assessments of the evidence the Trial Chamber tried to eliminate from this process were confirmed twice by two different Supreme Courts of Appeal. When it comes to evaluating the decision of the trial panel in connection with the release of the two defendants to home detention, they did not prejudge the guilt and innocence of the accused, but they expressed concern over the decision of the panel itself, so the presumption of innocence was not violated in any way, and of course, no pressure to the court because it is certain that in the same case, the same panel did not respond to such criticisms by changing its decisions. The fight against impunity applies not only to unresolved cases from the past, but also to cases of violence against journalists, threats and unpunished hate speech today. By successfully solving the killings of journalists, we are working to prevent this from happening unpunished, in order to create the awareness, obligation and culture of the impunity of any violent act against freedom of speech and information today.

Finally, in conclusion: democratic control of the public lies also in the assessment of the wording of the High Judicial Council's announcement, and it abounds with unsubstantiated claims, but also with grammatical and spelling mistakes, and that best reflects the extent of the negligence this body showed in commenting Veran Matic's statements. We hope that the corrections we have made in this announcement will not be evaluated either as a pressure on this body or as an attempt to discredit it.

Translation of edited (for grammatical errors in Serbian) statement of the High Judicial Council

The High Judicial Council strongly condemns the statement by Veran Matić, the president of the Commission for investigating the killings of journalists, given in the media, regarding the trial of the Trial Chamber in the criminal proceedings of the murder of journalist Slavko Curuvija.

That statement endangers the independence and autonomy of the courts and judges and poses a direct threat and pressure on the panel that deals with the criminal case, especially given that it was provided by the President of the Commission for investigating the killings of journalists.

The High Judicial Council once again emphasizes that the judge is independent in the conduct and decision-making process and cannot be called to account for the expressed opinion or voting in the decision-making process.

The legal obligation of the judge is to impartially conduct the proceedings on his conscience, in accordance with his own assessment of the facts and interpretation of the law, while ensuring the proper trial and observance of the procedural rights of the parties guaranteed by the Constitutional, Law and International Acts.

The Constitution stipulates that everyone is considered innocent for a criminal offense until his guilt is established by a final court decision.

The High Judicial Council considers it unacceptable that the President of the Commission for investigating the killings of journalists expresses in the public statements his opinion on the proceedings that have not been terminated legally, thereby disturbing the citizens' confidence in the entire judicial system.