Head office Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade - the sixth floor of the Palace of Justice. Bright and spacious corridors filled with greenery, dominated by the wall on which the flag of the country of Serbia is drawn. Somewhere, behind the wall, is the office of the main Belgrade prosecutor. A heavy silence filled both the air and the concrete that separates dozens of cabinets. The neat and tiled corridors seem cold, almost sterile, completely opposite to the intrigues brewing in them and the offices they lead to. In them, public prosecutors should prepare cases against corruption and crime, work to suppress juvenile delinquency...
In recent years, the main result of the prosecutors' work, instead of dealing with corruption, has been the persecution of dissidents and political opponents of the ruling regime. Arrested for a tweet, what people would call "said-said" cases. On the other hand, all the dust that disappeared from the corridors of the prosecution seems to have settled on the folders with evidence against corrupt powerful people. A young security guard sits by the wall with a drawn flag, from there a narrow passage with a red carpet can be seen through the glass. They set it for themselves. Velvety soft and the bright color of blood, it leads to those who serve the ruling party, not the citizens and their country.
Somewhere in these offices there should also be a public prosecutor Bojana Savović. She was an expert in the fight against corruption, uncompromising and incorruptible. The general public found out about her when she was dismissed after the extensive investigation she led against the corrupt team in the case of Elektrodistribucija Srbije. On the very day when the arrests of the suspects began, the head of the Prosecutor's Office decided to transfer her to another department - for general crime. Instead of corruption, it was decided that it would be better to deal with murderers, rapists, highway robbers and street drug dealers.
When she showed herself to be impeccable even in such a grueling job with a constellation of sad and terrifying characters, a new shift followed. She was transferred to the juvenile department. The dismissal of prosecutor Savović caused a scandal in the public due to a bunch of untruths that her bosses publicly expressed through media releases. The prosecutor also spoke. She raised her voice. The brave stood by her, name and surname - petitions, protests. The first rebellion in the history of the Serbian judiciary broke out. A storm arose that does not subside.
There is no public appeal before the court. Regardless of the positions, the place where you work or the amount of salary, now everyone knows who is who. The heads of the prosecution, as they walk the red carpet to the spacious offices, are almost despised by the public, even the regime's tabloids unimaginatively praise their work. We believe that now everyone knows who Bojana Savović is, as she often comes to work by city bus to work in a small room at the end of the corridor, she is respected among citizens, internationally respected, public prosecutor for her people and her country, Serbia.
It is not clear to us why they look at us in amazement when we ask where the office of prosecutor Savović is. A very young woman approaches us and says: "That department for juveniles is here on the sixth floor, that's where the other prosecutors sit, but not her. She's on the fourth floor. Where they come and bring the suspects for hearings, you'll see a crowd in the corridor, that's where we have investigative offices, we don't do case preparation there, we just examine clients. You'll see a bigger toilet for clients, turn and there are clerks and then you'll find her at the end of the corridor. There's a small office there. placed. There are a few of them that are 'placed.' Happy people. "
Let's go down. And it was as if we were witnessing live a series directed by life. It could be called "Unfortunate". We passed through a crowd of people who were shouting, it seemed that last night's fight that started in the bar would end in the middle of the prosecutor's office, a few Chinese people were nervously hustling not far from them, and their lawyer was explaining to someone on the phone that they did not avoid taxes, they just didn't arrive... The smells of sweet perfumes and strong sweat intertwine in the air. The toilet door is wide open, there are puddles of water in front of it, and the dark corridor, with mossy walls, led us straight to the office of public prosecutor Bojana Savović.
"WEATHER" We barely found you.. How come - public prosecutor, and so hidden from the public?
BOJANA SAVOVIĆ: Although they are trying with all their might to hide me from the public, to physically separate me from my colleagues, I guess so as not to "spoil" them, I work even more dedicatedly only in the interest of that public. Those who are in charge and want to decide our lives are not allowed to get out of their company cars, let alone walk the streets of their city alone. Everyone knows it now - both them and us.
After all the years of training for the fight against corruption and working on those cases, How are you doing in the Department for Juveniles??
I love prosecutorial work and I see every area of law as a challenge. I made a decision a long time ago that I will dedicate myself completely in the name of law and justice. With changes and transfers, they wanted to put me in a bind, and it turned out that through the cases of juvenile delinquency, I can see more clearly how much damage has been done to this society, and what awaits us all. It is clear to me what the government has done for our children. In juvenile cases, we have an analysis of the entire family, their mutual relationships, and the history of delinquent behavior, which helps us to understand more easily how some juvenile behavior occurred. The problem is that the law regulating both the responsibility of minors and the position of minor victims is quite old and outdated, it was adopted in 2005. The state did not seem to understand or did not find it important to pay attention to the fact that society and minors have changed significantly in the last 20 years.
How do you now view the cases being worked on by the Anti-Corruption Department where you used to work?
I am aware, like most citizens, that there is no real fight against corruption, and that there are no real results. In their announcements or annual work reports, the prosecutor's offices do not even announce how many final judgments they have, what and how many sentences have been imposed for which criminal activities, and how many permanent confiscations of property there are, and that is the point of the fight against corruption, that is the prosecutor's goal - arrests are not the way to justice. For example, I was recently called by the border police for a consultation, because in their records I am still marked as a point of contact for money laundering, although I have not been for years, and this is a very important area - bringing in or taking out undeclared cash.
How do younger colleagues react when they meet you and who until recently were just interns, and now they reach prosecutorial positions without much experience and training?
In the last year, many of them approach me and apologize. They say that they had an order to bury me with cases and trials, some approached it more zealously than others, and some of them now regret it. I told them that I knew that and that everyone should live with their actions and conscience, those who have it.
You regularly go to protests.. You have been seen.. However, I have the impression that there are fewer of you in the media?
I go to protests both in Belgrade and in cities in Serbia, I speak at student forums, I recently spoke at a magnificent meeting of health workers of Serbia that was held in Valjevo, and I think that I am exactly where I should be, with my people and with our youth. I also write professional papers on prosecutorial police, civil confiscation of property, whistleblowers, vetting in the judiciary, the International Court for the Fight against Corruption, etc. I hope that in this way I offer solutions to some problems and that in the future there will be those who want to hear them.
Your view on student protests and the state of the country?
photo: marija janković...
People are enlightened, encouraged and united. United like that, we can do anything. This whole process is significantly healing for the whole society, now we all learn what we can do together when we have the same basic values. I think that the students also learned a lot, they experienced a lot on their own skin, and, honestly, we "older" people learn from them as well. Unlike many, I think it's good that all this is taking longer, because sudden, faster changes would probably be short-lived. Through this duration, encouragement is awakened among all layers of society, along and across. Fear is broken and that feeling of freedom and courage has to be lived and breathed for a long time in order for us to become aware of necessity. I also understand that people who have been encouraged for a long time are now impatient, but they must understand that they were indeed a minority, because if it were not so, the changes would have happened earlier. As important as courage is, so is endurance. One-off or sporadic acts of courage are important, but not enough.
The tabloids don't stop targeting you, members of your family, suspicious characters in black take photos of you on the street, in a cafe... Even photos of your daughter at the protests were published, with the note that she is her mother "millionaire prosecutor". The president of the country has labeled you by name as someone who acts unconstitutionally, who is involved in politics - What is forbidden to you? - and who abuses their position...
When these obscure contents reach me, I file lawsuits both civil and criminal. Of course, it takes time and energy, but I need to tell them that such behavior is unacceptable. Those common phrases "foreign mercenaries, domestic traitors" were felt by students, as well as all professors and activists, and now it is clear to everyone how senseless lies they are.
I would like at least the president of the state as a lawyer to know that the Law on Public Prosecutor's Office stipulates that the holder of the public prosecutor's office has the right to public expression of political views and to participate in public debates of a political nature when it comes to issues related to public prosecution, constitutionality and legality, human rights and fundamental freedoms (Article 54 of the Law). Both the Constitution of the RS and the Public Prosecutor's Law guarantee immunity to the public prosecutor for the opinion given in connection with the public prosecutor's function. I hope that at least the President knows the practice of the European Court of Human Rights on the freedom of speech of judges and public prosecutors, that he is familiar with the judgments in the cases of Judge Miroslava Todorova against Bulgaria, Laura Koveša against Romania and others, and that he is also familiar with the opinion of the Consultative Council of European Prosecutors, which speaks about both the external and internal independence of public prosecutors. I would also like him to know their views that the hierarchy in the prosecutor's office should ensure the proper functioning of the prosecutor's office, consistency, uniformity of action in the administration of justice and protection of human rights, without harming the independence of public prosecutors. Therefore, the hierarchy in the prosecution is not the arbitrariness of the chief public prosecutor or the superior prosecutor, but can only be used for these legitimate purposes. In times when human rights are violated every day, when dissidents are arrested for something that does not even have a "d" from the crime (criminal), when the application of the law is so uneven that it only increases the injustice in society, it is not only our right but also our obligation to react. The same applies to judges. And the opinion of the Consultative Council of European Judges, which is an advisory body of the Council of Europe, in its 2022 recommendations says that it is the duty, not only the right, of judges to speak when necessary to protect the rule of law. In these terrible times, it is our duty to react because this is not a fight against the state system, the state apparatus, this is a fight against the mafia that uses, that is, abuses, all the state resources that they illegally seized and occupied.
It seems that more and more of your colleagues feel obliged to speak up. The informal community is increasingly present in the public "Defense of the profession". You are in that company too.?
I am. It started as a reaction of almost 700 judges and prosecutors from all over Serbia to the statement of the president of the republic after the prosecution's decision not to propose detention, which he probably did not like, that those prosecutors and judges who do not protect order (in his opinion) will be changed. Later, we reacted to his other statements - that he would file a criminal complaint against the prosecutor who demanded an inspection of parked tractors around Pionirski Park, and there were also statements by politicians from his party that the prosecutors' ears should be twisted, that we are scoundrels, that the law should be changed so that we are appointed by the executive power, that an unconstitutional law (lex specialis) should be passed, the legality of which they know will be challenged before the Constitutional Court, but with the help of which the judges would be dismissed and the prosecutors who signed... We also filed a disciplinary report against lawyer Vladimir Đukanović, and a media conference is planned.
All these scandalous statements by politicians who have been in the public space for almost 30 years and who recklessly contaminate it with verbal feces are a reaction to that awakened profession, because part of the judiciary is showing signs of life and does not want to work according to the order and dictates of the executive power. I am proud of my colleagues, who are the last bulwark of the defense of this society. This type of self-organization of judges and prosecutors from all over the country is a reaction to the non-reaction of the High Council of the Judiciary and the High Council of the Prosecution, and especially to the non-reaction or inadequate reaction of the Commissioner for Independence. I hope that both the professional and lay public will give due importance to the elections for those bodies, because we have seen so far how the election of "prominent lawyers", for whom no one knows when and for what they distinguished themselves, is already falling on our heads. The people you and such elect decide on the fate of citizens, decide on the legality of the electoral process. It is important to remind the citizens that it concerns them as well.
photo: marija janković...
Before, you were appreciated among your colleagues and outside of Serbia. However, it seems you are, since they moved you to these few square meters, became internationally known and recognized, especially in the region?
I have a large number of colleagues and even friends among prosecutors all over the world. We often exchange legal opinions, the practice of courts and prosecutor's offices, standards of conduct, but, unfortunately, we still cannot boast of the results of work that our colleagues in the region have. When the current minister of health was arrested in Croatia - previously they arrested the current minister of construction, the mayor of the capital, arrested and convicted the prime minister - I felt professional shame because this has never happened in our country. Then I told my fellow prosecutors from the region that I would take them all to lunch when we arrested the current minister or any high-ranking politician. A colleague from Bosnia and Herzegovina then joked: "It's easy for you to make promises like that, I can do that too, when you know it won't happen." I told him that I believe he will and that the meaning of law is precisely that everyone should be equal before the law.
