At the invitation of the presiding justice of the Supreme Court of Serbia, Vida Petrovic-Skero, the Chairman of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, Predrag Markovic, today opened Judges’ Days 2006, the annual judges’ conference in the central Serbian spa of Vrnjacka Banja.

Addressing judges from all over Serbia, Mr Markovic reiterated that he had fulfilled all his promises – both those made at last year’s conference, and those made at the event marking the 160^th anniversary of the establishment of the Serbian Supreme Court. ‘Judges should dispense justice as the law says, not as the newspapers of the day tell them. As Chairman of the National Assembly, and as a citizen of this country, I stand for the principle of always answering a court summons – be it only for a celebration or a conference’, Markovic said. He reminded the judges that he had presented all documents put forward during the process of drafting the Constitution at a sitting of the Constitutional Issues Committee, held on 30 September 2006, before the National Assembly sitting that saw the unanimous adoption of the proposal of the new Constitution, as well as that all the documents had been discussed, but, unfortunately, not all of them could be adopted. ‘Political parties acted wisely, and, guided by national interests, did as the judges had done – they abandoned their extreme requests, and carefully listened to the other sides’ arguments’. After the National Assembly had adopted three decisions in two convocations, it finally, unanimously, adopted the new Serbian Constitution, now awaiting confirmation at a referendum. ‘Many have profited from the fact that Serbia was not an ordered country. The referendum question is clear, and is answered with a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’, like at a registrar’s office. The formal legislative ordering of a nation is confirmed like the legal founding of a family’, Markovic concluded.

This year’s Judges’ Days, organised by the Serbian Supreme Court, are being held from 9 to 12 October in Vrnjacka Banja, and serve as a forum for over a thousand judges from all over Serbia.