08.05.2015.

Day of Legal Service marked

At the Air Force and Air Defence Command in Zemun, the Day of Legal Service of the Serbian Armed Forces, 10th May, was ceremonially marked, in memory of the date in 1864, when the Military-Court Law was passed.

The ceremony was attended by State Secretary Zoran Djordjevic, Adviser to the President of the Republic Oliver Antic, Deputy Chief of General Staff Lieutenant General Jovica Draganic, representatives of the Collegium of Minister of Defence and Chief of General Staff, retired members of the Legal Service and other guests.

Addressing the members of the Legal Service, State Secretary Zoran Djordjevic told them that they represented an important segment of the defence system and they had created legal frameworks, and secured and followed their implementation for 151 years.

- In the years behind us, the staff has conducted their tasks in complex conditions, which resulted in some tasks not being completed which aggravated proper functioning of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces – Djordjevic said, adding that, today, we must be wise and take steps that would enable us to have a complete and daily legal protection of the defence system that would be the guide of all associates of the service.

State Secretary said that this year’s changes to the Law on Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces reestablished the institution of Military Attorney’s Office after ten years, which allowed for a more efficient protection of the Republic of Serbia’s property and secured a more rational management of military property.

Discussing the importance of the Legal service for military discipline, and thus for operative and functional capabilities of the Serbian Armed Forces, Acting Secretary at the Ministry of Defence Colonel Nebojsa Nikolic stressed that it was necessary to retain independence and note to the superior decision makers that rules and regulations must be strictly followed, in order to have all decisions legally grounded and indisputable in courts.

He announced that, after the passing of the changes to the Law on Serbian Armed Forces and Defence, came a number of by-law regulations, and that the Service would face important tasks in organizational changes in the defence system.

At the ceremony on the occasion of 151 years of Legal Service and 120 years of military discipline courts, film Military Service through History was shown.

On the occasion of the Day of the Service, best members were awarded and acknowledged for notable results achieved, and, as “a token of good cooperation and understanding of the activities of the legal service”, State Secretary Zoran Djordjevic was presented with the book Code of Military Legal Regulations.

Traditions of the military legal service date back from 10th May 1864, when Military-Court Law was passed in Serbia, which managed the organization and the procedure of military courts in regular and emergency state. Since 2004, military discipline courts have been established, which have taken over a large portion of work from the jurisdiction of former military judicial organs.