Amnesty is an act of mercy by the state and in democratic societies it is a way to achieve a higher degree of resocialization of convicts.
In Montenegro, it is, they claim in the non-governmental sector, a par excellence political issue, which serves to collect votes.
Members of the government proposed a new law on amnesty last year, and among those who would be included are those convicted of murder. If the assembly were to adopt the proposal of the new law, it would be the fifth amnesty in 11 years since the restoration of Montenegro's independence.
"It is symptomatic and worrisome that this law is passed right before some important elections or in an election year. Thanks to this institute, in a certain way, the political interests of the ruling structure in Montenegro are put before the interests of all those whom the law itself should directly relations," said Tamara Milaš from the NGO Center for Civic Education.
The law did not even reach parliamentary committees, and numerous criticisms have already followed. This time, apart from the non-governmental sector and the opposition, as well as the families to whom someone was killed, criticism also comes from the highest leaders of the judiciary.
Whether because of that or something else, the proposed solution has not yet been included in the agenda of the Assembly. From the DPS, the party whose MPs are the proposers of the law, they say that they cannot specify when the law will be presented to MPs, and say that it will undergo changes.
"Maybe we can innovate the existing legal text, and only when we have the final version of the law, then we will be able to say something more concrete about it," said Danijel Živković from DPS.
The biggest problem is that sentences would also be reduced for people convicted of murder.
"We cannot say with certainty in which part of this legal solution will be innovated. When the final version of the law comes to the plenum and we discuss it, then we will know whether that will also be part of the changes to this legal solution". Zivkovic said.
The Minister of Internal Affairs Mevludin Nuhodžić is on the same page as the judges. NGOs go a step further, saying that it is worrying how willing the authorities are to forget the most serious crimes, and that it is not a problem for them to look for their voters in criminal structures.
"This is precisely the message that perhaps criminals profit the most, for the simple reason that a message is sent that way, that disobeying the law is absolutely permissible. That if you have committed a certain criminal offense, you can be amnestied if you are loyal to the ruling structures in Montenegro, and that is really dangerous and unacceptable," said Milaš.
Živković states that "those statements are tendentious".
"First of all, there is no place for the politicization of this topic. I agree that this is the fifth amnesty since independence, but allow me to say that this is a serious and sensitive issue, which needs additional attention".
About 16.000 citizens signed the initiative for the adoption of a law that would reduce the sentences of convicts from Spuška and Bjelopolje prisons. If the law were to be adopted in the proposed form, the sentences would be reduced for the double murderer Željko Pištinjat, those convicted for the murder of Slavoljub Šćekić, as well as those convicted for other murders.
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