The Secret Service will not have unrestricted access to citizens' data stored in the database of the Ministry of the Interior.
Thus, the judge of the Basic Court of Podgorica, Simo Rašović, again decided to annul the agreement between the National Security Agency (ANB) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP).
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. The High Court overturned the first verdict of Judge Rašović, pointing out that the fact that secret agents have access to citizens' data held by the police may be in the interest of national security and that it should be clearly determined whether this interference with citizens' rights is legitimate.
Rašović, however, again determined that the agreement was illegal and pointed out that the Law on ANB at the time of the conclusion of the disputed agreement did not prescribe the possibility to conclude such an agreement at all.
"In the opinion of the court, this agreement enables a high degree of arbitrariness in the actions of the defendant and it simply gives such an opportunity, which is in direct contradiction to the provisions of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and the provisions of the Constitution," it says, among other things , in the new ruling.
The court also accepted the allegations of the lawsuit, which indicated that marking the agreement as secret is contrary to the views and standards 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.
The court made the only legal decision, the agreement enables arbitrary interference with human rights, especially with the fact that it is marked with a degree of secrecy, which the court correctly determined by referring to the positions of the court in Strasbourg," said MANS attorney Veselin Radulović.
In the lawsuit filed by MANS director Vanja Ćalović Marković, Dejan Milovac and Veselin Bajčeta, it is written that the agreement of 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 register of residence, voter list, unique registration number, personal name, registration 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 part of the trial, because the then director of the ANB, Boro Vučinić, determined the secrecy of the agreement.
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