A NEW SERIES OF "DISCIPLINARY RESPONSIBILITY OF JUDGES TRAINING"

In cooperation with the Judicial Academy and judges/trainers, members of the High Judicial Council (HJC) and the HJC disciplinary bodies, the Project has started a new round of 20 trainings on Disciplinary Responsibility of Judges this May. By the end of June, the trainings organised in an online format reached ca. 140 participants in the total of 10 trainings. The goal is to include 500 judges from courts of all jurisdiction, who were not able to participate before.

The first training in disciplinary responsibility of judges was held on 25 September 2019 in Belgrade. Starting from September 2019 until February 2021, 50 training events were held with the participation of more than 1,380 judges from of all courts of regular and special jurisdiction in Serbia. The trainings started in the classic format of the workshop and continued in the online format.

In order to overcome the challenges regarding the preparation and delivery of trainings caused by the COVID- 19 pandemic, the approach was modified and the training events were delivered in online format through the Microsoft Teams platform. In addition to changing the agenda and materials as part of the preparations for the training delivery, the Project experts delivered training for judges/trainers and enabled a smooth transition from face-to-face event to online environment. The training program and materials were additionally supplemented by new case studies created on the basis of actual disciplinary decisions in accordance with suggestions given by the previous participants - so that one current example from the practice of disciplinary bodies of the HJC is supported by four case studies.

This is the first time to have such a comprehensive training organized in the mentioned field in the Republic of Serbia. The curriculum became a permanent module within the Continuous Training Program for Judges of the Judicial Academy. Achieving this, the Project ensured the sustainability of this training and made it possible for the Curriculum, developed by the Project and with the expert assistance of the High Judicial Council and its disciplinary bodies, to become the subject to training for all generations of judges.