Piperović: A healing decision, the judge said in two sentences - come on people, this can't go on

The decision of the High Court is very healing and significant, attorney Zoran Piperović told ETV portal commenting on the ruling rejecting the proposal of the Special State Prosecutor’s Office (SDPO) to order detention for his client, businessman Ranko Ubović, with the addition of detention grounds - risk of flight and the gravity of the criminal offense. At the same time, Veselin Kovačević’s detention was extended by two months, but the SSPO’s proposal to add a new detention ground in his case was rejected.

To recall, after the Court of Appeal annulled the decision extending the detention of Ubović and Kovačević and returned the case for reconsideration, the High Court issued a new ruling last week, maintaining its earlier position that the SSPO’s proposal was inadmissible. Attorney Piperović received the ruling yesterday.

- The High Court dismissed as inadmissible the SSPO’s proposal to extend Ubović’s detention under detention grounds 1 (risk of flight), 2 (influence on witnesses), and 4 (gravity of the criminal offense), as well as the proposal to extend Kovačević’s detention under detention ground item 4 - the High Court previously announced.

„The most important lesson - order detention when necessary, and do not when it is not“

Ubović’s defense counsel, attorney Piperović, stated that the ruling, with regard to the proposal to extend Ubović’s detention under items 1 and 4, contains the following reasoning: „…reconsidering identical circumstances over and over again leads to unnecessary exhaustion of the court…“. For this reason, Piperović believes that the court’s decision is „very healing and significant“.

- That is why I wanted to publicly praise it, so that prosecutors, attorneys, and judges can see it and, most importantly, draw a lesson from all of this. So: Be free, be a judge, be a prosecutor, order detention when necessary and do not order it when it is not. That is the whole point and the very definition of a state governed by the rule of law - he emphasized.

According to him, the judge explained the decision in an unusual manner.

- This is what I constantly point out - that nothing can be achieved through repetition and persistence alone. His style is so unusual for today’s courts, in two sentences he said: Come on, people, enough, this can't go on. To me that is positively shocking. He said - you cannot do something that simply does not work. And he said it in a fantastic way - the attorney told ETV portal.

„A guideline for judges to be free individuals“

Although he expects the SSPO to file an appeal against the ruling, Piperović believes it will be pointless.

- This is a good guideline for other judges to be free individuals. I know this may sound too harsh or pretentious to some, because everyone will say - we are free - and yet we know they are not. We know how indictments are confirmed, how detentions are ordered, and how detentions are extended. We all know this and we all see it - he added.

Piperović explained that when detention is extended, a proposal for extension is submitted and the Court of Appeals may only extend it.

- The court that extends detention has no right to assess new circumstances. New circumstances are not submitted to the court extending detention, but to the court that ordered the detention, and it is that court which then assesses whether those circumstances are of such a nature that they justify a new detention ground or not - Piperović emphasized.

„Adding detention grounds without any legal basis is tragic for any society“

However, the attorney points out that today we have reached a point where there is fear of the moment when a detention ruling goes to the Court of Appeals for extension, and of the decision on whether the grounds on which detention was ordered by the High Court will remain.

- It has gone so far that there is no longer any need to cite new circumstances, they simply cement person A, B, or C in detention, without stating why, without anything. This passes at the Supreme Court, the Constitutional Court laughs at it, and we have reached a phase where nothing is certain anymore, where a final High Court ruling ordering detention means nothing, where we all have to tremble at the moment a detention ruling goes to the Court of Appeals for extension, wondering whether that unfortunate person will end up staying inside for three years or only on the grounds on which detention was originally ordered. And that is simply shocking. For this to be happening in a country that is supposed to join the EU in two years is unbelievable. I do not know whether the Quint ambassadors read this. Do they see what is going on? Can such a judiciary, with such a court - particularly in the part where it extends detention - enter the EU - Piperović asked.

He also stressed that when there are legal grounds to order detention under specific provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code, there is no problem - let detention be ordered.

- But when it is not necessary, when detention grounds are added without any legal basis, that is tragic for any society. That is legal uncertainty, a violation of fundamental human rights. It is anything but legality. And who is doing that – the one who is supposed to safeguard legality and justice in a state – that is the court, of whatever jurisdiction - Piperović concluded.