Selection for North Macedonia's ECHR judge delayed again; Jelena Ristić replaces Ana Dangova-Hug
Commission chair Darko Kostadinovski says the expert panel found a nominee did not meet Council of Europe criteria; lawyer Jelena Ristić was proposed on 20 August.
North Macedonia's process to nominate a judge to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg has been delayed again after the Council of Europe's advisory expert panel returned a nomination. The national selection commission replaced one of its three proposed candidates after the panel concluded that the nominee did not meet the Council of Europe's criteria.
New name proposed after panel's objections
The Commission on the Selection of a Judge to the ECHR, chaired by Constitutional Court president Darko Kostadinovski, met on 20 August and unanimously decided to nominate lawyer Jelena Ristić to the three-candidate shortlist in place of Ana Dangova-Hug.
"There is a notification from the expert panel that the third-nominated candidate, lawyer Dangova, does not fully meet the conditions and criteria prescribed by the Council of Europe for a judge in the European Court of Human Rights. The Commission convened, held a meeting on 20 August and made a unanimous decision, that lawyer Jelena Ristić be the new candidate," Kostadinovski said.
The selection has already stretched over roughly one and a half years and has passed through several setbacks and controversies. Initially, a different commission proposed Gabriela Gajdova, then-prosecutor Lenche Ristoska and lawyer Jordan Apostolski as the three candidates; however, the government annulled that list on 22 July last year and appointed a new commission.
The current five-member commission kept only one member from the previous nine-member body — Irina Trajkoska-Strezoski, director of the Academy for Judges and Public Prosecutors. The other members are the presidents of the Constitutional Court (Darko Kostadinovski), the Supreme Court (Afrim Fidani), the Basic Criminal Court Skopje (Daniela Dimovska) and the Basic Civil Court Skopje (Besnik Avdija).
Asked about the long duration of the procedure, Kostadinovski acknowledged the delay but expressed optimism that the process will this time produce a nominee at the next possible Council of Europe session. "It is true that it has been delayed too long; I did not expect this either. The delay is due to several reasons — the workload of the expert panel, because we as a Commission respond immediately, meaning whenever there is a remark we react with a new candidate," he said.
Until a new national judge is elected to Strasbourg, Jovan Ilievski continues to serve in the post. Ilievski was appointed when Sasho Mijalkov was director of the then State Administration for Security and Counterintelligence.
Photo: EPA-EFE/RONALD WITTEK
