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The Republic’s prosecutor, Zagorka Dolovac, told Novosti on Sunday that she never romanticized the situation in Serbia, and evaluated the comments of the president of the Belgrade High Court, Aleksandar Stepanovic, in an interview with KRIK, as inappropriate, especially those who assess unfounded and flat the work of the entire prosecution.
Photo: Aleksandar RoknićRegarding Stepanović’s statement that for her “Serbia is a Scandinavian country of prosperity”, in which there is almost no crime, but “only flowers”, she said that it seems to her that that part of Judge Stepanović’s interview was extracted deliberately and maliciously exploited by some negative campaigns against the Public Ministry, in the interests of the supposed public interest and journalistic professionalism.
“I cannot escape the impression that this is a deliberate weakening of the country’s criminal justice system in the interests of certain interests, be they private or political,” said Zagorka Dolovac.
Regarding Stepanović’s statement that no high corruption cases went from the prosecutor’s office to the court, he said that the statement did not stand.
According to data from the Public Ministry of the Republic, from March 1, 2018 to June 30, 2020, that is, since the establishment of special anti-corruption departments in four superior prosecutor’s offices, those departments processed more than 24,000 criminal charges, filed indictments against 2,163 defendants and the courts handed down sentences against 1,295 people and only 39 acquittals, Dolovac said.
He said that he did not agree that the criminal process takes a long time and that an analysis even showed that from the moment of the introduction of the so-called procedural investigations, the average time of pre-investigation and investigative actions decreased from one year and more to six months.
Referring to the work of the prosecutors specialized in organized crime and war crimes, he stated that in 2019 criminal charges were filed against 161 people in the Organized Crime Prosecutor’s Office, of which 64 were charged, 32, that is, 50 percent , for criminal acts. High “corruption, given that the defendants were chosen, appointed or appointed persons, or the value of the gain from the property exceeded 200 million dinars.
Zagorka Dolovac noted that the fight against organized criminal groups and the so-called criminal clans, especially foreigners who are present in Serbia.
“International cooperation will be one of the key resources that we will use for that purpose, and we are already actively working in that area.” In the following period, the Public Ministry of the Republic will strengthen control of the work of lower prosecutors. During 2021, we can expect personnel changes within the prosecutor’s office, “announced Dolovac.
According to journalists ‘associations that the number of attacks on colleagues is growing, he said that according to prosecutors’ records, the number of physical attacks on journalists and that endanger their safety is actually decreasing, while social networks are maintains between 30 and 50 cases a year. these “virtual attacks” have not been observed to have turned into “real” ones.
“I am satisfied that the number of unknown perpetrators is drastically decreasing, so this year, until September, of the 31 reported cases, only one possible perpetrator will remain unknown for now. By the end of the year, a new mandatory general instruction will be approved, which will make the reaction of the prosecutors even faster and more strict, ”said Zagorka Dolovac.
When asked about the criminal charges filed against her by some opposition leaders, Zagorka Dolovac pointed out that the criminal charges were immediately referred to the competent prosecutor’s offices and that there was no further information, considering that her interest would be a conflict of interest.
When asked to see it as pressure, he said that he does not react to pressure, and when asked if there is pressure from the government, he said that the principle of separation of powers implies a dynamic relationship, in which the powers of the state have certain expectations of each other.
“These expectations are sometimes justified and sometimes not. Respect and proper application of the law is the only way to resolve certain controversial situations and avoid their possible continuation or repetition,” said Zagorka Dolovac.
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