Slovenia
Vrhovno sodišče Republike Slovenije
Branko Masleša,
Supreme Court Judge Councillor
President since: 23.11.2010
Justice of the Supreme Court since: 18.2.2000
Career before being justice of the Supreme Court:
Branko Masleša graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Sarajevo. After graduating he held the position of deputy public prosecutor at the Municipal Public Prosecutor's Office II in Sarajevo until 1980. On 1 April 1980, he was elected judge in the criminal department of Koper Basic Court. Prior to his election as a higher court judge, he was head of the criminal department of Koper Basic Court. On 16 October 1984, he was elected judge at Koper Higher Court, and on 18 October 1994 he was elected higher court judge at the same Court with a permanent mandate. From 1994 to 2000, during his term of office, he held the position of head of the criminal department of Koper Higher Court. As rapporteur, he participated in the decision-making process for appeals in criminal, economic-criminal and, for a while, economic matters. He also conducted seminars on the subject of the criminal judiciary. During the period from 1994 to 1998, he was a member of the Staff Council. During the period from 1986, i.e. from the beginning of computerisation of court work, to 1998, he was also in charge of Koper Higher Court's computer-supported operating system. Since 1999, he has lectured at criminal justice schools for judges and schools for law regulating minor offences. Within the scope of education programmes organised by the Judicial Training Centre, he lectured on those aspects of the Criminal Procedure Act relevant for candidates to court expert and court appraiser positions.
On 18 February 2000, he was appointed Supreme Court Judge for the Supreme Court's criminal department. During the period from 2002 to 2009, he was a member of the Supreme Court Staff Council; in 2008 and 2009, he also held the position of President of the Supreme Court Staff Council. In 2004, he became deputy head of the Supreme Court's criminal department. On 2 July 2009, he was appointed President of the Judicial Council. From 2000 to 2002, he was President of the First Instance Disciplinary Court for judges and state prosecutors, while in 2003 and 2004 he was disciplinary prosecutor for judges and President of the Second Instance Disciplinary Court for lawyers and notaries. He also participates in the national bar examination commission as a criminal law examiner and holds colloquia for candidates for the state judicial examination at the Judicial Training Centre.
As Supreme Court Judge in the criminal department, he also performed substance reviews of forms referring to criminal law and laws regulating minor offences which greatly assist and facilitate the work of all the courts in the country.
Branko Masleša participated in the drafting of the only topical comment on the Criminal Procedure Act, in the preparation of research entitled "Deviations in Slovenia 100 years ago" and in the project entitled "Substantive Criminal Law – Judicature of the Slovenian Courts". In the Collected Decisions of the Supreme Court (1999–2007), several decisions were published; the judge rapporteur for many of these decisions – one of which was a key decision – was Branko Masleša. He is also author of scholarly articles.
