Judicial Council Suspends Procedure against Supreme Court President Ademi

The Judicial Council reached a decision to suspend the disciplinary procedure against Supreme Court President Besa Ademi.

Seven out of the 11 members of the Judicial Council voted in favour of the halting of the disciplinary procedure, which was initiated by council member Milazim Mustafa, based on the fact that Ademi did not attend several of the sessions of the Judicial Council.

While some of the members even stated that the entire procedure against Ademi has been unnecessary and ungrounded, Tanja Cacarova-Ilievska claimed that with her behaviour, Ademi seriously violated the Law on Judicial Council by overstepping her authorisations.

“Instead of addressing the Judicial Council when she faced certain pressures about certain decisions, she decided to speak about that to news web portals and online media. Apart from this, Ademi never mentioned the fact that she violated the laws and the Constitution when she approved the illegal dismissal of Vesna Dameva as President of the Judicial Council last year,” Cacarova-Ilievska said.

Opinions were divided, as some of the council members believed that the procedure should be suspended, while others claimed that Ademi must face at least some form of responsibility and penalisation for her behaviour.

Ultimately, Judicial Council President Dameva said that if it was solely up to her, she would suspend the procedure against Ademi.

“Having in mind that we are discussing a disciplinary procedure against the president of the highest court in the country, for the work of which there are numerous positive remarks, I find it rather risky to continue with this procedure. However, I leave it up to my colleagues, which I believe will make a decision with professionalism, responsibility, honour and clear conscience,” Dameva said, adding that Ademi managed to justify the absences from the Judicial Council sessions on previous occasions.