As part of the General Seminar at the Faculty of Law of the University of Belgrade, the following speakers talked about the relationship between hierarchy and the independence of the prosecution: Bojana Savović (deputy prosecutor), Lazar Lazović (deputy president of the Association of Judges and Prosecutors of Serbia), Predrag Milovanović (deputy prosecutor) and Dragoslav Ljubičanović (lawyer).

Director of the General Seminar, Miloš Zdravković, opened the forum by expressing his great satisfaction that there is an opportunity to cross argumentation and discuss in an academic manner an important and current issue in Serbia concerning the replacement of prosecutors Bojana Savović and Jasmina Paunović, and then gave the floor to the speakers.

The first speaker was Predrag Milovanović, who firstly emphasized the strong connection between independence and integrity. He pointed out that the aim of the hierarchy is to achieve the public interest, that is, a morally justifiable goal, and that it must not be viewed in a purely technical sense. From a legal point of view, inefficiency and illegality are the only grounds for issuing a mandatory instruction to prosecutors, which in practice is very often abused for the sake of discipline and implemented informally. Such behavior of superiors should be sanctioned by disciplinary procedure.

Lazar Lazović responded by saying that the prosecution is not reduced to abuse of position and that the positive aspects are being ignored. He pointed out that hierarchy is a concept that is accepted according to European standards and includes, among other things, the authority to issue mandatory instructions, which makes him wonder why people think the prosecution has lost its independance. When there is a problem, the Council of Prosecutors and the Commissioner for Independence have the authority to solve it, which means that we should wait for their answer, and not burden the public with it.

The next speaker was Dragoslav Ljubičanović, who explained that independence under the law concerns only independence vis-à-vis the executive and legislative authorities. He denied the value of referring to theoretical claims in previous presentations and said that he claims from experience that practice is always different. In the end, he confirmed Lazović’s allegations about the excessive influence of the media in the disputed case of dismissed prosecutors, which dictates the understanding of independence.

At the end, Bojana Savović addressed the audience and, as one of the main actors of the given case, received a big round of applause even before the presentation itself. She pointed out that no one claimed that hierarchy should not exist, but that relations within the body imply coherence, not arbitrariness, and that the influence of the executive power must be eradicated. Never in the history of the prosecution has it happened that the prosecutor was removed from the case at such an advanced (late) stage of the process, and especially not without giving any explanation for such a decision.

This was followed by questions from the audience and a lively exchange of opinions between the speakers on both sides. Given the actuality and importance of the topic discussed, the people in the audience, including members of parliament, public prosecutors and judges, were very interested in getting involved by making comments and asking questions.

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