The Belgrade Centre for Human Rights welcomes the amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure, which are in accordance with international standards. Although adopted without public discussion, these legal changes lead to the improvement of the work of the courts and consequently to the efficient protection of individuals. An especially important amendment abolishes the institution of mandatory detention (Art. 142 (1)), which mandated detention of any person suspected of having committed a criminal offence for which the prescribed penalty was forty years imprisonment. Namely, the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights has reiterated that the severity of penalties cannot be the only criterium for ordering compulsory detention, but that other factors are also necessary (e.g. other circumstances such as risk of flight, influencing witnesses, destroying evidence). For this reason, when ratifying the European Convention, Serbia and Montenegro made a corresponding reservation, bearing in mind that this rule was not in accordance with the standard defined by the ECtHR.
The Belgrade Centre hopes that other incompatibilities covered by the reservations of Serbia and Montenegro which are related to the procedure before the misdemeanours tribunals and public trial in administrative proceedings, will be soon abolished.
However, it is important to note and condemn the systematic avoidance of public discussion on important legal provisions, which usually affects the quality of such provisions and their application. The Belgrade Centre emphasises that public discussion contributes not only to the publicity of laws, but secures that they would benefit the community and all its members.
