DPM Pažin: Any judgment of European Court is guidance to state

Podgorica, Montenegro (2 October 2017) -- Deputy Prime Minister for Political System, Interior and Foreign Policy and Minister of Justice Zoran Pažin delivered a speech at the roundtable titled "Harmonising court practice with case law of European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg."

Stressing the importance of respecting the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, DPM Pažin said that the convention is the most effective legal mechanism for safeguarding human rights and freedoms. In that context, he noted that the European Convention cannot be read without a good knowledge of judicial practice.

Deputy Prime Minister Pažin said that judgments of the European Court of Human Rights are not in any way harmful to states, but that each judgment is a guidance to the state on how it can and need to establish legal order and improve it in line with the practice of the European Court.

Speaking about the rule of law, as a metaphorical idea of a valid legal order, DPM Pažin stressed that the rule of law implies the right to be placed in an appropriate social context and the right to do so in an appropriate manner.

The round table was attended by the presidents of all courts in Montenegro, judges of the Supreme Court of Montenegro, Representative of Montenegro before the European Court of Human Rights, representatives of the European Court of Human Rights, the Delegation of the European Union to Montenegro and the Council of Europe. Presidents of the Supreme Court of Montenegro Vesna Medenica and Head of the Programme Office of the Council of Europe in Podgorica Angela Longo also addressed the participants.

OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER