02 March 2026
The Pseudo-Technical Purge
In January 2026, Serbia adopted a package of amendments to core judicial statutes, informally labelled the “Mrdić laws”, that together recalibrate key elements of the country’s prosecutorial and judicial framework. At the centre of the reform lies the restructuring of the Public Prosecutor’s Office for Organised Crime. The “Mrdić laws” illustrate a contemporary mode of rule-of-law erosion in which formal guarantees of independence remain textually intact, even as the functional capacity of key institutions is deliberately weakened. Continue reading >>
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17 January 2022
Paper Constitutionalism
On January 16, Serbian citizens voted in a referendum on constitutional changes concerning the guarantees of the judicial independence and organization of the judicial sector. According to preliminary results, 57, 4% of citizens voted for the reforms, while 41,6% voted against, with a turnout of not more than 30% of all registered voters. I would argue that constitutional amendments concerning the judiciary should have been postponed for two reasons. Continue reading >>
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