How Justice dies

Zvonko Davidovic

I’m sitting in the cafe near the Baroque court palace and I am waiting for the ruling in the “Bloody Thursday” trial. While I was waiting, I decided to start writing this column that should come out in three days, on Monday. I see the Baroque palace derived from the painful mind of a painful time, a palace that has no root in our history and collective consciousness. As I sit and wait for a decision on the case that has caused a lot of public outbursts, the same feeling I have for the Baroque palace I also have for the verdict that I shall call the “Themis Verdict”. I call it after the Greek goddess of justice Themis, because this case was used for political persecution and bargaining with justice for resolving the name dispute with Greece.

Whatever it is, it will neither be fair nor lawful, but will be politically abused and branded. Because of the selective amnesty, which was politically motivated and granted as needed, the people who opened the doors of Parliament make the verdict shameful and legally vague, as well as non-objective. With this case, the political power and supremacy of politics over the judiciary was very transparent and disgraceful, and took the judiciary into a new dimension with no fault whatsoever and gave it a new name – “Themis Judiciary”. This case and the political messes that influenced it revealed the political power, judicial powerlessness and the way in which political problems are dealt with legal breakneck and farces that turns law into something that is not law.
Why the government continues with the same way of acting from the time of the Baroque court palace and kills Themis after the execution of Justitia. Why we fought and chanted “No justice, no peace” when neither justice nor reform emerged after the change of power.

The examination of the evidence, by both the prosecution and the defense, lasted for months until late in the night, they spent days watching footage and the public was informed of every evidence in the procedure. What could be seen on the footage clearly indicated who, as well as how, opened the doors and who let the crowd in Parliament. These people were the MPs who were seating on the defendant’s bench yesterday, and today they are back in their MP seats in Parliament. The Government needed the votes of these MPs, and the MPs needed mercy and amnesia for the committed crime. They were granted mercy through amnesia for justice through amnesty. Political needs and political mathematics on one hand, and spinelessness on the other hand, created the amnesty law. This law, selective as needed, painfully unrighteous, legal breakneck par excellence, did the job for both sides, some got their votes, and others got their freedom. But neither the politicians nor the MPs had the courage and decency to give this quasi amnesty, but the burden was once again transferred to the judiciary and the Prosecutor’s Office that was assigned to grant such an amnesty. And so, amnesty happened, and the pardoned once again became MPs, but there was no sign of justice.
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I entered the courtroom to hear the “Themis Verdict”. Inside, half of the non-pardoned were waiting to hear how many years in prison the pardoned ones will not get. The judge began to read the verdict by quoting Plato and other Greek sages, but there were no quoting nor mentioning the law. The judge explained what the Parliament represents and since when it exists, the history of Parliament and its origin. I thought of how the judge would have failed the constitutional law test by Professor Skaric. What parliament, we have an assembly.

Some countries have a parliament and there are debates and speeches, and it is derived from the word ‘Parlare’. But in our country it is not a parliament, it is an assembly of the Macedonian word “assembled”, just as it was assembled people from all political parties and placed on the ballot lists. And when they get their seats, they serve only as a voting machine of the executive branch. One group of ‘assembled’ did not get a prison sentence for the committed crime, because the other group of ‘assembled’ were not as many, and they also covered the crime with crime, helping them avoid the consequences of their crime.

The judge kept on reading parts of the “Themis Verdict” and behind her Lady Justice was lying dead, stabbed by an ancient lance that is held the lion, and next to her Themis was exhaling and life was slowly leaving her body, wounded and cut by the red rose she was still holding in her hand. The judge did not hear Themis crying out, and didn’t even notice Lady Justice, she just kept on reading.

She said the uniformed policemen that were in the Assembly were hugging the protesters, handed out bottles of water, were sitting in the seats and did not take any action, even though they were obliged according to the law. I looked left and right, and I didn’t see any of them among the defendants. The judge read that neither SVR Skopje took any action. I looked around, there was no such defendant. From the UBK – none, from the party top – none, MPs- there was none, no defendants from the competent institutions. Wow – I thought to myself, so this bullies, all eight that were sitting there in the courtroom, planned, organized and carried out an attack on the constitutional order and security. Such great organization and ability. At the moment when she started reading the sentences, Themis died and fell over Lady Justice. For kicking Zijadin Sela 15 years in prison, and in the other case in which the accused were charged with murder, they got 11 to 14 years in prison, but it must have been a really hard kick, I thought. For the one who rescued Zijadin Sela, and for whom Sela gave his personal real estate as a guarantee to get him out of detention, seven years. The director of the BJB in the Ministry of Interior, for whom the judge read that he was the only one in charge, 18 years in prison, because he did not give out orders, but the other four of the MoI that do not have the authority to give out orders, and never got an order from their chief, each got 15 years in prison. They probably should have begged the director to give them the order. Fortunately, the minister was not accused, because who knows how many years in prison he would have received, but he is a politician, as he stated himself in his testimony, and we don’t sentence politicians and lawmakers, do we?