The Center for Women's Rights addressed the Acting Supreme State Prosecutor, Ivica Stanković, regarding the actions of the Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Berane, in the case of the brutal beating of Jelena Krstić from Nikšić at her workplace in Berane. The accused in that case, Muhamed Ramusović, was ordered to be detained for up to 30 days.
Krstić claims that the prosecutor in ODT Berane, Gorica Golubović, advised her to forgive the attacker and to deny the allegations she made in the media.
The Center states that on November 15, in Berane, they spoke with the injured party in the presence of her attorney, Srđan Lješković, and a representative of the NGO SOS Berane, and that on that occasion they recorded her statement, for which, as they state, they are sending a letter to Stanković.
"On November 4.11.2019, 257, according to the minutes we had access to, in case Criminal Code No. 19/5.11.2019, the injured party, Jelena Krstić, informed the ODT Gorica Golubović that she hired attorney Srđan Lješković through the NGO Center for Women's Rights from Podgorica, which provides support and legal representation for women and children victims of violence. On November XNUMX, XNUMX, without notifying the attorney of the injured party or the NGO Center for Women's Rights from Podgorica, which hired her legal representative, with the explanation that she needed to provide documentation of the pelvic bone scan, the plaintiff called the injured party by telephone to access the premises of ODT Berana", the letter to Stanković states.
Krstić, they point out, states that she made the statement without the presence of an attorney due to pressure from the competent prosecutor Gorica Golubović.
"As she has not yet recovered from her injuries, the beneficiary of the therapy, traumatized by the violence she survived, the injured party did not want to give a statement without the presence of an attorney, but she did so, as she states, due to pressure from the competent prosecutor Gorica Golubović. According to the injured party's statement, the competent the prosecutor used a form of pressure under the pretext of "good intentions", saying that the injured party should "forgive" the defendant and deny the allegations she made to the media. In addition, by not notifying the attorney of the injured party that she would be heard and insisting that she continue giving her statement despite due to her poor state of health, she did not act in accordance with the CPC, as well as international standards on the protection of the interests and rights of victims. Serbian Orthodox Church, and not to the event itself," the memo reads.
According to these allegations, it is added, the ODT grossly violated the rights of the victim - the victim of violence, who should have been treated with respect, in a sensitive and professional manner without discrimination of any kind.
"In all contacts with the victim, the competent authority had to take into account the gender of the victim, the trauma she experienced, her state of health, her sense of personal threat and fear, and her immediate needs during the hearing. Also, the obligation to protect the victim from secondary and repeated victimization and intimidation was not respected, which did not allow her proper access to justice, since she was heard without the presence of an attorney, even though she informed the ODT that, as an ignorant party, she did not want to make a statement on her own. from CB Berana, he is already acting on this case 8 days after the event, after the appeal of non-governmental organizations for the protection of women's and human rights to the head of ODT Berane and VDT Ivica Stanković, during which time the defendant was at liberty," states the letter from the Center for Women rights that were published today by the daily "Dan".
They believe that this kind of behavior of the ODT is not in the interest of justice and fairness, that it also does not lead to establishing the true facts about the critical event. Therefore, as they state, they request that the actions of ODT Berana be investigated in this case and that the prosecutor Gorica Golubović be excluded from this case.
"As this is not the first time that we have observed serious failures in the actions of the prosecution in the protection of women victims of violence (we remind you of the recent case that happened in Kolašin, in June 2019, in which we also asked for your intervention), we ask that you take all the measures that are in It is your responsibility to prevent future failures and establish a practice that will enable access to justice and the best protection of victims," the letter to the VDT reads.
"She addressed me with the words: Why don't you forgive him, you are a believer..."
The Center submitted to Stanković the statement of the injured party in which she described the actions of the competent ODT, which we are transcribing in full:
"On November 05.11.2019, 4.11.2019, I was invited by the prosecutor Gorica Golubović by telephone to bring her a scan of the pelvic bone. I acted according to the order of the ODT Berana and brought what was asked of me. After arriving at the ODT and submitting the medical documentation, the prosecutor she addressed me with the words: "Since you're here, why don't you make a statement now?" I replied that I don't feel well health-wise, that I still can't calm down mentally, as I explained to her the previous day on November XNUMX, XNUMX about which there is also a record, where I said that I have my own lawyer, Srđan Lješković, who was hired by the NGO Center for Women's Rights.
I believe that I should not make any statement without the presence of my lawyer, as he himself told me. After being pressured by the prosecutor Gorica Golubović, that I have to give a statement, that the defendant is making a statement in the office next to me and that it doesn't matter that I don't have an attorney next to me, I addressed her with the words that I am not capable of giving any statement, especially without support NGO Center for Women's Rights and Lawyers and if it is urgent and a statement must be given, that I stand by the statement I made to CB Berane on 29.10.2019/XNUMX/XNUMX.
After these words of mine, I started crying and shaking, I couldn't breathe, her colleagues came in and brought me water, trying to calm me down. During all that time, she persistently asked me questions, which I don't even know how I answered, I just wanted to leave those premises as soon as possible. After that, the male person who was with her in the office started asking me questions. Not immediately knowing who he was, I answered his questions as best I could, not knowing why they both asked me why I came to Berane.
Gorica Golubović asked me why I wrote a petition for the Serbian Orthodox Church, addressing me with the words "Why did you need that". After the interrogation, prosecutor Golubović addressed me with the words: "Why don't you forgive him, you are a believer, a mother of two children, this is a small town, you will continue to live in Berane." It's not mine to interfere, I shouldn't tell you this, but I'm giving you friendly advice".
After that, a male person whom I found out in the meantime was the defense attorney for the defendant and the prosecutor asked me to deny the statements I made to the media regarding this case, while they forced me to open my Facebook profile on my phone, which I did while crying and I refused to deny what they demanded of me. All this time I was under tremendous stress, I cried, I don't know when it was worse, the day when I was attacked for no reason and suffered violence or this day when the lawyer of my attacker, in the presence of the prosecutor, and she alone, instead of defending me , put pressure on me.
After all this, I contacted the NGO Center for Women's Rights, and in a conversation with them and a lawyer, I learned that my rights were seriously threatened by this behavior of a state body and that they should have protected me as a victim of violence, which, as I was told, the state prosecutor was obliged to respect and act in accordance with the law. I did not get an answer to my question to the prosecutor, why you are only questioning him, Muhamed Ramusović, on the 8th day after my beating.
In the conversation with the people who helped me, I found out that the ODT should have asked me whether I was joining the criminal prosecution and whether I was making a property legal claim. Nobody asked me that question. I would like to emphasize that the record that I was practically forced to sign, not physically, but mentally and with the desire to leave those premises as soon as possible, did not include everything I said that day, nor the way in which I said it.
The prosecutor took advantage of the situation because I don't know the procedure, she didn't inform my lawyer about the hearing, she abused my extremely bad state of health, even though I told her in the conversation that I had fainting, panic attacks, nausea and severe pain, and especially that I was afraid of being near violent people who was in a room a few meters away from me. The hearing did not last an hour as stated in the minutes, but longer, because I could not calm down during the entire interrogation, so the interrogation was interrupted at least 10 times," says Jelena Krstić's statement.
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