Detention in the criminal procedure legislation of Serbia and experiences of the public prosecutor's office for organized crime: (Non) compliance with European standards?

Abstract

Freedom as one of the key values in a democratic society is limited by the contemporary needs of protecting the individual from arbitrariness and illegality, regardless of the sphere of social life in which the individual exists. This freedom, in our case freedom of movement, is determined by legal boundaries, both from the aspect of the national framework and international standards. Namely, present-day states set the realization of human rights as one of the main goals, but also the possibility of restrictions due to necessity in a democratic society and with a restrictive approach to the basis of legal restrictions, in this case restrictions on the right to freedom and security of person. In accordance with that, the paper critically analyses the adequacy of positive legal norms that regulate detention in Serbia and research was conducted in the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime. In the conducted research, for the purpose of collecting primary data, a specially designed instrument was used - a survey questionnaire consisting of 7 questions. The aim of the research is to consider the adequacy of the legal norm and the efficiency of its application when it comes to the measure of detention, but also to identify problems in practice when determining the said measure. The results of the research indicate that the reform of the measure of detention is necessary, not only from the aspect of the national framework, but also the degree of harmonization with contemporary comparative criminal procedure legislation and European standards of deprivation of liberty.