Podgorica, (MINA) – More than two-thirds of citizens believe that Montenegrin courts are slow in delivering judgements in serious crime cases, while only 11.4 percent consider them efficient, according to a survey conducted by the Civic Alliance (GA).

The key findings of the research “Citizens’ trust in the work of the judiciary in Montenegro” were presented by professor Miloc Besic, at the conference “Citizens’ (dis)trust in the institutions and the perception of the work of the judiciary”, organized by the GA today at the Europe House in Bijelo Polje.

It was stated at the conference that, in order to increase citizens’ trust in institutions, it is necessary in the coming period to additionally focus efforts on improving strategic communication, especially in crisis situations, which was absent in the previous period.

The GA said that the research results indicate a predominantly negative perception of the efficiency of the judicial system.

“As many as 67.3 percent of citizens believe that the courts are slow in delivering judgments in serious crime cases, while only 11.4 percent consider them efficient, which indicates a low level of trust in the operational capacity of the judiciary when it comes to the most serious crimes”, the press release said.

It was noted that the perception of judicial independence remains limited, as only five percent of the respondents believe that courts and judges are very independent, while 25.2 percent consider them mostly independent, with a significant share of those who are unable to assess (41.6 percent).

The research showed that in a broader institutional context, citizens have a higher level of trust in the police (about 45 percent) than in judicial institutions (about 34 percent), which confirms a trend of greater trust in institutions more directly present in the everyday life of citizens.

It is stated that a particularly significant segment of the research relates to perception of recent case of escape of Milos Medenica.

“The data show that 31.1 percent of citizens do not know who is responsible, while the rest of the responses are divided between the police (21.4 percent), the judiciary (25.7 percent) and the overall system (15.8 percent), which clearly indicates unclear and insufficiently communicated lines of institutional responsibility”, the press release says.

It is added that 60.2 percent of citizens rate cooperation between judicial institutions and the Police Administration as poor, while 39.8 percent consider it very good.