Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade calls on High Prosecutorial Council to take urgent action

In the aforementioned media appearances and disputed articles, which called for the resignation or dismissal of officials, the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade (HPPO) was portrayed as an institution that had allegedly unlawfully prosecuted critics of the previous government. It was also claimed that the Supreme Public Prosecutor had ordered an inspection specifically of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, supposedly an institution where the law was being violated, according to the HPPO's statement.

The statement adds that all this was accompanied by malicious and sweeping comments from individuals, including a member of the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office Oversight Commission, as well as informal groups and organisations that have repeatedly expressed not merely disagreement but outright hostility towards this public prosecutor's office. Among those individuals is also a candidate for the new composition of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia.

"Such statements, in the current social climate and immediately following the parliamentary elections, represent an obvious example of political pressure on the work of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade and an attack on the independence of the public prosecution service, accompanied by an attempt to force the chief public prosecutor to resign," the statement emphasised.

Considering that decisions on the legality of the work of public prosecution offices can and should be made only by the competent bodies within the public prosecution system, the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade stated that it is cooperating fully with the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office Oversight Commission. All case files requested by the commission for inspection have been submitted, despite the Belgrade office's position that the commission's composition is questionable and unclear, and that it was established through an extensive interpretation of the Supreme Public Prosecutor's statutory powers.

Furthermore, given that the public has repeatedly been presented with the entirely false claim that the commission was established specifically to investigate the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, portraying the situation as a confrontation between the Supreme Public Prosecutor and the chief public prosecutor in Belgrade, the office considers it essential for the High Prosecutorial Council to issue a statement and explain to the public that the commission is not an "Inquisition" established to settle scores with anyone.

"Furthermore, threats by individuals and informal groups to dismiss or remove public prosecutors from office, primarily the chief public prosecutor and his deputy, whom they portray as so-called 'loyalists', constitute a direct violation of the independence of public prosecutors.

Their public statements target these prosecutors under the guise of alleged human rights violations and claims that student and other activists have been arrested without evidence. It is clear from these statements that the reasons behind such demands are politically motivated and reflect a form of revolutionary justice," the statement said.

It added that these individuals were deliberately disregarding the fact that chief public prosecutors are appointed for six-year terms, while other public prosecutors hold permanent positions. Their dismissal is subject to a prescribed procedure that can only be carried out by the High Prosecutorial Council (HPC), which is precisely why it should respond urgently.

The Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade once again stressed that it operates in accordance with the Constitution and laws of the Republic of Serbia. For this reason, it said, the attacks against the institution and its public prosecutors require an urgent and decisive response from the HPC to safeguard the independence of the public prosecution service and the strongest possible condemnation of political pressure on prosecutors and other holders of prosecutorial office.

The request for action was addressed directly to the HPC, given that it is responsible for safeguarding the independence of the public prosecution service, that the Commissioner for the Independence of the Public Prosecution Service has not yet been appointed, and that Article 17, Paragraph 19 of the Law on the High Prosecutorial Council provides for such action.

The Higher Public Prosecutor's Office also contacted the EU Delegation and the OSCE Mission Office regarding the same matter.