The primary challenge facing the Basic State Prosecutor’s Office (BSO) in Pljevlja, which oversees the municipal areas of Pljevlja, Žabljak, and Šavnik, is the shortage of prosecutorial staff.

This issue is highlighted in the report on the performance of the ODT in Pljevlja for the previous year, which was signed by the manager, Sanja Golubovic.

Beyond staffing challenges, the efficiency of the prosecutor’s office has also been hampered by “reduced personnel levels in the Basic Court in Pljevlja, the dysfunctionality of the Basic Court in Žabljak, along with diminished staff resources within the Security Department in Pljevlja and the Police Stations in Žabljak and Šavnik.”

The report notes that until August of last year, only two prosecutors were operating at the Basic Prosecutor’s Office in Pljevlja, including Golubović.

In August 2024, an additional state prosecutor was appointed.

The organizational structure of the Basic Prosecutor’s Office in Pljevlja plans for, in addition to the head of the office, the recruitment of four further state prosecutors.

“The ODT in Pljevlja is responsible for the Basic Courts in Pljevlja and Žabljak, covering the municipalities of Pljevlja, Žabljak, and Šavnik, which total more than 2,300 square kilometers. Consequently, the main challenge for the prosecution remains the lack of prosecutorial staff. This is exacerbated by the Basic Court in Žabljak being non-operational due to insufficient judges and court presidents, which complicates the prosecution’s efforts to present indictments before the Basic Courts in Pljevlja, Bijelo Polje, and Kolašin,” states Prosecutor Golubović’s report.

He mentions that while the spatial facilities of the ODT are adequate, there is a concern as the building they occupy is not state-owned but instead belongs to the bankrupt “Vektra Jakić,” which could lead to operational difficulties in the future.

“A significant issue for this prosecutor’s office is that the Basic Court in Pljevlja frequently struggles to establish a criminal panel due to a lack of judges. As a result, decisions in such cases are referred to the High Court in Bijelo Polje, creating challenges for our office concerning attendance during the control and validation of indictments. Moreover, due to the aforementioned issues with the Basic Court in Žabljak, all cases falling under its jurisdiction now require resolution by the High Court in Bijelo Polje, negatively impacting the efficiency and timeliness of actions by this prosecutor’s office,” Golubović indicates in the report.

The daily functions of the ODT in Pljevlja are complicated by difficulties in obtaining expert opinions in areas such as traffic, occupational safety, environmental protection, economics, and electrical engineering, as there is a limited availability of experts in these fields within the municipalities of Pljevlja, Žabljak, and Šavnik.

“While there is a robust representation of experts at the state level, the absence or scarcity of specialists in specific fields within our jurisdiction hampers our ability to conduct investigative actions efficiently, especially when the prompt arrival of experts on-site is crucial for evidence gathering,” Golubović remarks in the report.

Over the course of the past year, the ODT in Pljevlja addressed reports concerning 423 individuals, including 67 cases that remained unresolved from prior periods. Of the completed reports, 362 involved adults.

During this reporting period, the Prosecutor’s Office received criminal reports concerning 16 minors and also initiated 57 cases against unidentified perpetrators of criminal acts. There were 226 unresolved cases from previous periods, resulting in a total of 283 ongoing cases against unknown perpetrators, with 58 resolved during the reporting period. Among those, 24 identified a perpetrator, 30 were resolved in other ways, and 4 cases were forwarded, leaving 225 unresolved cases at the close of the period.

A total of 284 criminal cases were initiated, with an additional 37 cases carried over from the previous period, summing to 321 cases in progress.

Each state prosecutor at the Basic State Prosecutor’s Office in Pljevlja dealt with an average of 179.25 criminal reports against known adult offenders, 4.14 against responsible individuals in companies, 7.88 against juvenile offenders, 117.42 against unidentified perpetrators, and 133.19 various criminal cases.

During 2024, state prosecutors from the Basic State Prosecutor’s Office in Pljevlja participated in 421 main trials or panel sessions.

“Compared to the report from 2023, we observed an increase in the number of criminal reports submitted by citizens, many describing incidents that do not fall within criminal law or are subject to private prosecution, leading to a larger number of decisions dismissing these criminal reports. It’s also noteworthy that injured parties with the right to pursue subsidiary prosecution are not seeking remedies through the courts but instead are filing complaints directly with the Higher State Prosecutor’s Office against the actions of the prosecutor or the office itself, many of which are found to be unfounded,” concludes the Report on the Work of the Pljevlja Public Prosecutor’s Office for last year.

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