Podgorica Basic Court judge Snežana Armenko temporarily gave up hearing the Minister of Science Sanja Vlahović in the dispute between the Montenegrin Academy of Science and Arts (CANU) against the state.
That's why she invited only the Minister of Finance Radoje Žugić to the next hearing, as a witness, who will testify about the alleged financial debt of the state to that institution.
Yesterday, the trial was postponed for the third time in a row, because the ministers were not duly served with the summons.
The judge's decision to cancel the hearing of Vlahović caused a commotion in the courtroom.
The President of CANU, Momir Đurović, strongly opposed it: "She is a bigger culprit than Žugić, on her proposal the Government made a completely illegal decision," said Đurović.
The judge said that she would later decide whether it was necessary to interrogate Vlahović.
In the lawsuit, CANU writes that the payment of budget funds was illegally suspended from May to December 2013.
They are asking for the payment of 390.251 euros for monthly academic awards and 450.251 euros for financing scientific research projects.
A similar proceeding is being conducted in the same court, in which CANU is also demanding more than half a million euros of unpaid budget funds for 2012.
Judge Lidija Mitrović declared herself incompetent in that procedure, so the case is pending in the High Court on appeal to CAN.
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