Serbian MPs Quarrel Over New Prosecutors

After several hours of debate in the Serbian National Assembly on Monday, 139 of the 169 MPs present voted for lawyer Mladen Nenadic as the new chief prosecutor for organised crime.

But the Assembly failed to elect a new chief prosecutor for war crimes because none of the five candidates attracted the required majority of 126 votes.

"We didn't have enough votes and we will see what happened and how to deal with this issue," said Maja Gojkovic, the president of the Assembly.

The two prosecution positions are considered key roles in the Serbian judicial system because both deal with high-profile and sensitive cases.

During the long parliamentary session, the opposition criticised the government for what it claimed was a lack of clear criteria for the election of public prosecutors, alleging that their political suitability was the only important factor.

Janko Veselinovic from the Movement for Turnaround party said during the debate that some of the candidates should not have been put forward because they were not highly rated by the State Prosecutorial Council.

"Half the candidates are not at the top of the expertise list made by the Prosecutorial Council ? There is the suspicion that some of them become candidates only because of [their] political eligibility," Veselinovic said.

But Justice Minister Nikola Selakovic argued that the government could not put forward its opponents for such jobs.

"I would be a complete political masochist if the people on the list were completely opposed to the government? but that does not change the fact they are the best candidates," Selakovic said.

Judiciary reform is one of the main conditions for Serbia joining the EU and it is a part of chapter 23 of the negotiating process...