Protected children can also be killed

Bjelopolje doctors Tomislav Jeremić and Haka Tahirović were sentenced to seven months in prison, and Zvonko Puletić and Jela Cimbaljević to six months of house arrest for infecting five babies in November 2014, one of whom died.

"This is a shame. They almost killed my child, and this is how they were punished," shouted Darinka Salemović, one of the mothers of the infected babies, after the verdict was pronounced, and left the courtroom of the Bjelo Polje High Court.

The father of one of the infected babies, Predrag Karisik, said that such a verdict is an invitation to citizens that they can kill children if they are members of the Democratic Party of Socialists.

"This is an invitation to the citizens of Montenegro to join the DPS and to be able to kill children in Montenegro, and to be protected by Duško Marković and Milo Đukanović. This is no longer a country, they are murderers. They killed a child, tried to they kill four more and our lives no longer have meaning", Karisik said.

The representatives of the injured families do not have the right to appeal, but they have announced that they will send certain suggestions to the Prosecutor's Office.

Explaining the verdict, the president of the council, Vukomir Bošković, said that Jeremic, Puletić, Tahirović and Cimbaljević were guilty of not acting in accordance with the regulations that determine measures for the suppression and prevention of a dangerous infectious disease, while they were aware that by not doing so they could commit a prohibited act .

"The defendant Jeremić, as the director of the hospital at the time, did not form a team for the supervision, prevention and control of hospital infection, and Tahirović and Puletić, as the heads of the Gynecology, Obstetrics and Neonatology Departments, did not undertake appropriate hygiene measures in those departments, in such a way that they did not perform regular sanitary control, ordering swabs from work surfaces and equipment, nor sanitary control of employees", said Bošković.

He added that Puletić, in addition, did not order pregnant women to take vaginal swabs when admitted to the Gynecology Department.

"Which all led to the poor hygiene and epidemiological status in that department. Because of such inaction of the defendants, there was an infection caused by bacteria and the dangerous infectious disease sepsis of newborns.

He emphasized that Cimbaljević was guilty of not following the regulations on the prevention and control of infectious diseases, because she did not report the case to the commission for monitoring, prevention and control of hospital infection even after transporting the children to KC Podgorica under suspicion of neonatal sepsis.

Judge Bošković pointed out that the defendants committed the crime with possible intent, because they were aware that they could commit the crime by their actions, so they agreed to it.

"Nevertheless, the court took into account their behavior after the crime, that they behaved solidly, that they were unconvicted persons and reputable doctors who contributed to raising the quality of healthcare services and who worked selflessly, for which they were known in their the middle and beyond", said Bošković.

Received sentences lower than the minimum

The doctors of Bjelopolje hospital were sentenced by the verdict to be less than the minimum prescribed for the perpetrators of the criminal offense for which they were tried.

The indictment charged them with having committed the criminal offense of serious offense against human health, in connection with the criminal offense of failure to comply with health regulations for the suppression of a dangerous infectious disease. For that criminal offense, a prison sentence of two to 12 years is prescribed.

All the doctors, except Dr. Jela Cimbaljević, were detained for several months.