BELGRADE, 03.07.2018. – The Judges’ Association of Serbia says that Veran Matic violated the presumption of innocence with his statement for Cenzolovka.
The Association announced on Monday that Matic in this way influenced the Trial Chamber in the process for murder of journalist Slavko Curuvija.
Matic: We respect the independence of the court, but we will not bury our head in the sand when it’s clear to everyone what’s going on.
The Association said, according to Beta, that the statement of the president of the Commission for Investigating Murders of Journalists Veran Matic about the manner in which the Trial Chamber is conducting the case of the murder of journalist Slavko Curuvija, violates the presumption of innocence and unlawfully influences the court.
It responded to an interview given by Matic to Cenzolovka, when he said that he “had the impression that the Trial Chamber with some of its decisions shows a clear intention to release those accused of murdering Curuvija.”
The Judges’ Association of Serbia assessed that this statement violates the presumption of innocence as it has been made during the court proceedings.
On this occasion, Matic said in a statement to the public that “judges are not exempt from the public’s right to be informed.”
“They are not a special caste that nobody can object to for any reason. On the contrary, their photographs and property which they own should be made public, and it’s up to them to work according to the law. The Commission for Investigating Murders of Journalists has not interfered in the independence of the prosecution and of the court, but it will surely not bury its head in the sand in situations where it is clear to everyone what is happening,” said Matic, and expressed his hope that the Judges Association will “find the strength to, in its ranks, separate the wheat from the chaff and point out to those who perform the duty of a judge dishonorably.”
“The Curuvija case can be a test for everyone: executive authorities and prosecutors have shown their professionalism, but did the Judges’ Association also see that in the Trial Chamber?”
The Judges’ Association of Serbia, however, according to a Beta report, pointed out that Matic was unlawfully influencing the court also with his statement that “the Trial Chamber made an unthinkable decision to let the accused go under house arrest…” They add that it is the duty of the court to conduct the proceedings with as little delay as possible “which does not mean the duty to order detention.”
“Because detention is not a punishment – and since it impinges on the freedom guaranteed to everyone, it is pronounced only exceptionally, in order to ensure the presence of the defendant in the proceedings,” the Judges’ Association said in a statement, asking the High Judicial Council to react.
Matic, on the other hand, said he was not a lawyer, but that he “learned that detention is not ordered solely for the purpose of preventing escape, but also for preventing influencing of witnesses – so I wonder why the Judges’ Association or that individual -because it is always about about an individual from the Judges’s Association – did not mention that?”
He called on the Judges’ Association to explain how and why during the Curuvija murder trial one or two court dates are scheduled per month “in a case that the public is extremely interested in as well as the state itself that formed the Commission (to investigate the murders of journalists).”
“We agree on one thing,” said Matic, “there must be no pressure on the court, and where was the Judges’ Association reaction when this pressure is hidden and interest-based? The Commission only informed the public, which should be the supreme judge.”