In court again on the secret service's access to citizens' data: The first decision prevents the ANB from having unlimited access

Rašović found in the abrogated verdict that ANB officials were given unlimited access to and download of data from the MUP registers, that a high degree of arbitrariness was allowed in the actions of that service, which is in contradiction with the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and with the standards and positions of the European Court of Human Rights
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MANS requests the nullity of the agreement: High Court Building, Photo: Luka Zeković
MANS requests the nullity of the agreement: High Court Building, Photo: Luka Zeković
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.
Ažurirano: 27.03.2019. 22:15h

The Higher Court in Podgorica overturned the verdict by which the Podgorica Basic Court annulled the agreement between the National Security Agency (ANB) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP), based on which the secret service had unlimited access to all citizen data stored in the MUP database.

The case will be returned to the judge of the Podgorica Basic Court Sim Rašović for retrial.

A few years ago, MANS employees filed a lawsuit against ANB and MUP, demanding that the secret agreement between those two state bodies be declared null and void.

Rašović found in the abrogated verdict that ANB officials were given unlimited access to and download of data from the MUP registers, that a high degree of arbitrariness was allowed in the actions of that service, which is in contradiction with the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and with the standards and positions of the European Court of Human Rights.

The court, in the abrogated judgment, accepted the allegations of the lawsuit in which it was pointed out that marking the agreement as secret is contrary to the position of the court in Strasbourg, according to which there is an obvious risk of arbitrariness where the powers of executive authorities are exercised in secret. The state, as well as ANB, however, do not see anything objectionable in this, stating that MANS' claim is unfounded.

In the lawsuit filed by the director of MANS Vanje Ćalović Marković, Dejan Milovac i Veselina Bajčeta writes that the agreement from February 2014 gave ANB access to all records and registers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

They explain that with such an agreement ANB officials are enabled, at their own discretion, to access and download data and information about citizens, related to citizenship, identity cards, residence and keeping the residence register, voter list, unique identity number, personal name, registers, vehicle records...

The lawsuit also adds that the way in which ANB officials access citizens' personal data must not remain secret, because it is a procedure that must provide a minimum level of protection against abuse. "Publishing the way in which ANB officials access the personal data of citizens in the performance of their duties cannot jeopardize the performance of the Agency's functions, because citizens must know how and when they might end up in a situation where ANB processes their personal data," the lawsuit states.

They state that the agreement is contrary to the Constitution and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and recall that the court declared void the agreement between the Police Administration and M:tel, which secretly and indefinitely enabled the police to collect personal data of citizens.

At the request of the ANB and the MUP, the public was excluded from the trial, because the then director of the ANB Boro Vučinić determined the secrecy of the agreement.

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