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After the tragic deaths of children on the streets on January 24, it is clearer than ever that there should be no further compromises between the old political players and the fascist regime.
Absolutely no transitional government composed of both the “opposition” and the ruling party!
This is an attempt to usurp the student protest by exhausted and compromised “opposition” leaders, whom most of the people do not even see as opposition but rather as part of the regime. All actors within the pathological system, including those who verbally oppose it while “not relinquishing their mandates” and coexisting with it for years, are part of the same structure. This was evident during the debate in the parliamentary committee on education, where both sides of the political divide displayed the same level of incompetence and lack of dignity. They all appeared indistinguishable.
A decent person has no place in such a society.
Students have the right to fundamental reforms, specifically the formation of a constituent assembly in which they, the students, would constitute the majority and would draft a new constitution, thereby creating a new order for the state they are fighting for.
Serbia does not need “transitional” solutions or band-aids over fascism and its legacy dating back to October 6, when neither transitional justice nor lustration was implemented. What Serbia needs is serious reconstruction, just as dilapidated shelters across the country need proper bricks and cement instead of quick fixes.
This is not an academic question where one can be “neutral” or “apolitical.” It is about a decade of systematic crimes and the destruction of dignity, targeting decent and vulnerable people. It involves the abduction of children from regime opponents and impoverished citizens. It concerns murders, disappearances, unjust detentions, and thousands of rigged verdicts, such as the one against the Bar Association, which was handed down almost before the lawsuit was even filed.
After committing these injustices for decades, the very same individuals now emerge with “signatures” and “wave handkerchiefs” at passing students instead of showing even a minimal sense of morality and joining the protests with other citizens. They are neither the most educated nor the most valuable members of this nation. While doctors, surgeons, actors, and university professors protest, they sit, appeasing the diabolical government and “calculating” when to “switch sides” before the ship sinks. This is not the behavior of honorable people but, proverbially, of those whose nature is well known.
Why Transitional Justice is Necessary, Especially for Judges and Prosecutors
A good example of the judiciary’s problematic role in society is the article by Judge Jelena Janković, published in Danas on January 26, 2025. In this article, Judge Janković lectures the public on regulations and normative provisions under the title “Why Do Judges Remain Silent?” This article demonstrates everything critics highlight as flaws in the judicial profession.
Janković’s claim that judges are legally constrained from expressing free opinions or protesting is both shocking, given the current social reality, and fundamentally illogical. Professors in schools are legally restricted from striking, more so than judges, and yet they face threats of dismissal. Students are also subject to regulations limiting their ability to skip classes or exams, yet they follow their conscience. Even under Nazi rule, “regulations” mandated the persecution of individuals and obedience to the fascist regime under threat of punishment, yet honorable people protested while collaborators complied.
Judge Janković, you must understand that “freedom of will” and integrity never come without risk. Ethics precedes regulations, it is above them, and it is the very foundation of their legitimacy. Without an understanding of ethics, one cannot truly be a lawyer for principled and methodological reasons.
Moreover, merely calling something an “Ethical Code” does not make it so. You could title your article “An Introduction to Abdominal Surgery,” but it would not be such an introduction if it contained nothing relevant to the subject. Similarly, the “Ethical Code” you reference has almost nothing to do with ethics. It was drafted by individuals who have evidently never studied ethics, let alone passed an exam in it, a fact demonstrated daily by their work in the courts and their writings in the press.
Judges cannot be the most immoral, least educated, and most cowardly people in a society. Quite the opposite is necessary.
Concrete Steps Toward a Constituent Assembly
After the fall of the fascist regime and its many actors—who are largely concentrated in the judiciary and public services—it is essential that student representatives, supported by reputable public figures, initiate the process of establishing a constituent assembly.
To clarify, a constituent assembly is formed with the specific goal of drafting a new constitution or amending an existing one. Its members are elected by citizens in free elections. These members can also be chosen from experts or respected public figures.
A constituent assembly is established through a special decision, which may result from a political agreement, a referendum, or a decision by the president or parliament. It can also emerge as a consequence of societal transitions and systemic changes. If a temporary institution is needed to organize elections for the constituent assembly, it should be a government composed solely of students and experts, with no participation from politicians. The sole task of such a government, if necessary, should be to organize elections for the constituent assembly within a clearly defined timeframe.
The decision to form a constituent assembly allows for the revision of all problematic provisions in the current constitution and the dismissal of all public officials who have disgraced their offices and their civic honor, regardless of their profession.
During the constituent period, it is necessary to establish a Transitional Court for Political and Judicial Crimes, modeled after the Hague Tribunal. This court should have its own statute, including both procedural and substantive legal provisions, defining trial procedures, possible penalties, and all other elements of criminal proceedings. The court should conduct “vetting”—integrity assessments—of all judiciary members and individuals suspected of participating in the fascist regime, directly or indirectly.
In countries that have implemented transitional justice, special penalties were introduced, including forms of lustration that exclude individuals from public life. For instance, in the Czech Republic, a penalty known as “exile” was applied, forcing individuals to relocate to rural areas where they had to engage in farming or manual labor without state subsidies. This advanced transitional criminal law successfully removed malign elements from society after the fall of the communist dictatorship and the regime of Gustav Husak.
As part of the transitional process and the drafting of a new constitution, all radical and fascist parties involved in societal repression must be banned, and their membership criminalized.
Only after the adoption of a new constitution can the implementation of measures proposed by ProGlas for “the day after” begin. First and foremost, in drafting the new constitution, all judicial officeholders should be dismissed, the majority should be tried before the transitional court, and the few honorable ones—who can be counted on one hand—should be retained as the foundation of a new judicial system.
Judicial officials have been the main enforcers of political crimes through the judicial system. Their crimes are innumerable, particularly in criminal law (unjust imprisonments and prosecutions of innocent people while covering up major regime crimes), family law (victimization of vulnerable individuals and children of regime opponents, destruction of families, and the most immoral repression against fundamental justice and the future of the nation), and constitutional law.
The criteria for forming a new judiciary must be stricter than they are now. New judges and prosecutors should have graduated from reputable law faculties, including international institutions, at least at the Master’s level, and should undergo rigorous ethical training. Until the judiciary is fully staffed with qualified personnel, temporary courts should be established, composed of experienced legal professionals from outside the current judiciary.
For every political transition, a clear and detailed plan must be established, grounded in legality. This means starting with the constitution and constitutional interventions, ensuring there are no improvisations, oversights, or deceptions.
The cost of the failure after October 5 was 23 lost years for Serbian society, with only a brief interlude during the tenure of the assassinated Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic.
No more transitional solutions with the same politicians. Serbia must be rebuilt from its foundation with competent and honest hands under public scrutiny.
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