Lawyers thank president - but won't end strike

Lawyers thank president - but won't end strike

BELGRADE -- The Bar Association of Serbia (AKS) has thanked Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić "for acknowledging the existence of lawyers' justified demands."

The organization also said they were grateful he did so "as a member of the executive branch of government."

Their statement, however, stresses that the recently adopted amendments to the law on notaries public do not meet the requirements needed to end the lawyer strike, as Nikolić claims, because these amendments do not fulfill their demands.

The Serbian president said on Wednesday that the amendments had fulfilled the demands from the lawyers, and that they should now go back to work.

This statement came in response to the striking lawyer's initiative that would have Nikolić sign a decree to change the contentious laws, and send them to parliament for a new vote.

The AKS says the strike continues because the lawyers' demands have not been met. The strike started almost two months ago.