President of the High Prosecution Council (HPC) Branko Stamenković announced that the Supreme Court acted according to the decision in everything of the Constitutional Court by which it accepted the appeals of six appellants in connection with the procedure for the election of members of the Supreme Administrative Court, by which it annulled the previously adopted decisions on the rejection of their objections.
Stamenković responded to the statements of the Minister of Justice with a statement Nenad Vujic and the President of the Constitutional Court Vladana Petrova regarding his conduct as president VST.
As he stated, after receiving the decision of the Constitutional Court and after removing the legal ambiguities, the Supreme Court decided that the objections were accepted due to the lapse of the 48-hour deadline for deciding, and submitted that decision, together with the decision of the Constitutional Court, to the Election Commission of the Supreme Court for further action.
The Election Commission of the VST works independently
After receiving those decisions, five members of the Electoral Commission, including the president and deputy president, submitted personal requests for termination of office in the Council, which will be decided at the regular session scheduled for February 6, 2026.
"The President of the Supreme Court does not have the legal authority to order anything to the Election Commission, and if he were to do so, it would certainly be carried out by one of criminal acts against official duty", stated Stamenković and added that the Election Commission is a body of the VST that operates independently.
On special assignment: Threats of the President of the Constitutional Court, Vladan Petrov
"Especially in the light of the Minister of Justice's allegations about the issuing of orders, functional continuity and responsibility, I emphasize that the allegations are unfounded, because based on the law, the members of the Election Commission gave their personal consent to be elected to those positions, without which consent it is not possible to exercise them," said Stamenković.
Deadline: April 6th
According to him, since the agreement no longer exists, there is no legal reason or way to continue the work of the Election Commission until the election of new members and the president and vice-president of that body, given that the work of the VST is not threatened, and the election process is ongoing and should be completed by April 6, 2026, by which time the VST performs its duties with a full composition of 11 members.
"The High Prosecution Council continues to implement the decision of the Constitutional Court in a manner prescribed and permitted by law, and expects that the Election Commission, after the election of new members and the president and deputy president, will continue to work on its fulfillment, regardless of the shortcomings that it previously expressed its opinion on," the statement said.
"I believe that there is not a single reason provided by the Constitution and the law for the Constitutional Court to issue a special decision by which, in case of need, it would authorize Government of Serbia to ensure the execution of the VST decision, the execution of which is already in progress. Any other interpretation and decision would represent the spread of legal uncertainty and an unprecedented usurpation of the rule of law," said Stamenković.
Source: FoNet