May 12, 2019 - The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg receives a large number of complaints related to the excessive length of court proceedings, which implies that the Montenegrin justice system as a whole did not respond to the needs of a reasonable deadline for the trial prescribed by the European Convention.
Reports on the work of the Office of the Representatives of Montenegro before the Strasbourg court that the Montenegrin Government considered on April 24 points out that this part should continue to work on raising the standards for the protection of this article of the European Convention at the national level to prevent future injuries before the European Court.
It is alleged that some state bodies that participated in national-level proceedings and whose actions and omissions had found violations of convention rights are not fully aware of the significance of financial expenditures imposed on the state.
"Those state bodies that, by their actions or omissions or unreasonable length of certain procedures, lead to a violation of the Convention and the obligation to pay fair satisfaction to the applicants, do not suffer any financial consequences, but the state as a whole bears these costs," the Report says.
As a consequence, it is estimated that such levels of individual responsibility for state budget expenditures often relate to such bodies and institutions.
"The insufficient awareness of managers and officials of these state authorities can lead to the continuation of the same practice that resulted in the violation of conventional rights, and which directly damages the Budget of Montenegro and the strategic political goals of the state, which is membership in the European Union," Valentina Pavlicic, the Montenegrin Deputy before the European Court of Human Rights stated.
They warned that this practice continued even though last year the Government adopted a Conclusion on the consideration of the possibility to introduce a model of financial responsibility of state authorities in whose work the violation was found.
"The introduction of this model of financial accountability would undoubtedly lead to the reduction of not only the duration of certain procedures but also the better resolution of certain requirements at the national level, which would ultimately contribute to the overall prevention of future violations of conventional rights of citizens of Montenegro," the Report says.
They pointed out that the practice of other countries that have applied a similar model has shown a positive effect.
It is said that an increasing number of contracting parties and members of the Council of Europe recognized them, and used the issue of financial responsibility as an extremely effective means of raising the level of accountability and professionalism in the work of state bodies.
"Considering the tendency to increase the amounts awarded as fair compensation based on decisions of the European Court, I consider it still useful to consider this possibility and to create a model of direct financial responsibility for violations of the Convention with domestic state authorities," stated Valentina Pavličić.
