Regime tabloids pompously announced that the first Serbian prosecutor, Zagorka Dolovac, was left without a majority in the High Council of Prosecutors. Is this true and what does it mean for the further fight for the canopy investigation?
Zagorka Dolovac was left without legitimacy, claims Pink.
"The majority of the members of the High Prosecutor's Council, six out of eleven, publicly spoke out against her way of working, refusing to participate in non-transparent decision-making without consultation with the profession," Željko Mitrović's portal reports.
Pink did convey the correct news this time, but now the question is how important it is. Although she worked in collusion with the authorities for years, the progressives are the supreme public prosecutor Zagorka Dolovac took it to heart since she transferred the case of the canopy in Novi Sad to the Prosecutor's Office for organized crime and ordered arrests due to corruption, which potentially resulted in its collapse.
The government interpreted this as "prosecutorial coup". Since then, together with the first prosecutor for organized crime Mladen Nenadić, targeted by the pro-regime media.
Sources and interlocutors of "Vremen" say that with this last vote, the fight for new elections in the High Council of Prosecutors, which should be held at the end of the year, actually begins. The council is a strategically important body that could indirectly determine the course of the investigation and indictment on corruption related to the canopy.
However, Zagorka Dolovac's problem was not only her political bias, but also her manner of behavior and decision-making. If she doesn't start acting in accordance with the law now, she could permanently lose her power in the Council. And with it, the fight for those responsible in the case of the canopy would probably fall into the water.
What happened
Zagorka Dolovac and her colleague Branko Stamenković were outvoted at the session of the High Council of Prosecutors (VST) because of their proposal on the election of acting chief prosecutors.
They proposed only their own candidates, and out of eleven members of the VST, six voted against it. This was interpreted by Pink as the seizure of this legal body of the second stream, which is still held by the progressives.
"Vremena" sources say that Dolovac actually wanted to appoint her own acting officials and that she did not want to allow voting for other candidates.
"For 15 years, Dolovac has been behaving as if that VST is her house. Whoever it is for, she just wants to rule," says a newsroom source. "That is why he wants to appoint his acting officials and does not agree to any other candidates. And the nature of that body is precisely in consensus."
Why is the Council important?
The members of the Council are five public prosecutors elected by the holders of public prosecutor's office, four lawyers elected by the National Assembly, as well as the Supreme Public Prosecutor and the Minister of Justice. This means that there are directly politically appointed people, but also those offered by the profession. That is why consensus is insisted upon.
The council has an important role - it elects and dismisses all chief prosecutors, except for the supreme one. Among the prosecutors he chooses is the one for organized crime, and those prosecutors' job is to initiate investigations and file indictments, such as the one for the carport.
The election is approaching
By appointing acting prosecutors, Dolovac actually wants to secure support for himself in the elections for the new High Prosecutor's Council.
However, even though she switched sides, her associates now blamed her for not doing her job according to the law, which is why she lost the vote here. Thus, if he wants to remain in the Council, he will have to start acting in accordance with the procedures, especially now that he no longer has the support of the government.
Because, in the Council of 11 members, one of whom is the Minister of Justice, there are only two independent members. The only safe solo player is the prosecutor Predrag Milovanović, all interviewees of "Vremen" agree.
This time he voted against Dolovac, but not because he wants to remove her from the position of power and favor the oppressors, at least that's what our sources think. Milovanović has been saying for years that acting officials in this body cannot be appointed just like that - because Dolovac chose them, but it is important to choose from among several candidates.
He speaks similarly for "Vreme".
"It is true that Dolovac no longer has a majority in the Council, but I don't want my statements to be misinterpreted," Milovanović told Vreme. "This may be the moment for Dolovac to finally agree to a conversation."
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