Doctors of the General Hospital in Bijelo Polje Tomislav Jeremic, Haka Tahirović, Zvonko Puletić i Jela Cimbaljević were acquitted yesterday in the High Court in Bijelo Polje of charges that they were guilty of infecting five babies, one of whom died.
They were charged with serious crimes against human health in connection with the criminal offense - failure to comply with health regulations for the suppression of a dangerous infectious disease.
Legal representatives of doctors, lawyers Dear Konatar, Drago Pantović i Kasim Dizdarević they did not want to comment on the verdict.
One of the parents of infected babies called the court's decision shameful.
Explaining the verdict, the judge Dragan Mrdak he said that, taking into account the content of the indictment in its basic form and subsequent amendments, the court is of the opinion that the defendants did not commit the acts in question charged to them.
He stated that the indictment in its basic form contained data "that neonatal sepsis is a dangerous infectious disease, and later changes were made to charge the defendants with a greater amount of criminality than in the basic indictment."
This, as he explained, is not possible and he referred to the article of the Criminal Procedure Act that prohibits alteration to the detriment of the accused.
"Having in mind the legal principle 'nultum crimen sine lege, nulle poena cine lege', the court could apply only those regulations that were in force at the time of the commission of the criminal act, which was charged to the defendant", said judge Mrdak.
He said that according to the factual description of the criminal offense from the indictment, it follows that the dangerous infectious disease in relation to which the defendants did not act according to the regulations was an infectious disease from Article 2 of the Law on the Protection of the Population from Infectious Diseases - neonatal sepsis.
He said that the judicial panel reviewed the International Classification of Diseases 10 (ICD)...
"The code A40 - A41 of the Law on the Protection of Population Diseases from Infectious Diseases does not apply to and does not cover the diagnosis of neonatal sepsis, as stated in the factual description of the criminal acts in the indictment, because neonatal sepsis has the code P36. No evidence leads to the conclusion that at the critical time in the maternity ward and the Department of Neonatology of the General Hospital in Bijelo Polje, any patient was diagnosed with an infectious disease belonging to the code A40 - A41, nor does it suspect that type of infectious disease, but it was established that four newborns were diagnosed with Infecio neonatati perinatalis specifica, which has the code P36. One newborn was diagnosed with infeciones perinazarels aliae, which has the code 39.8, with the description of sepsis neonati susp, which has the code P36," said judge Mrdak.
In the explanation, the judge points out that none of the presented evidence leads to the conclusion that neonatal sepsis belongs to the group of infectious diseases whose occurrence would impose on the defendants the obligation to act according to the regulations that determine measures for the prevention and control of infectious diseases from the Law on the Protection of the Population from Infectious Diseases.
"Not even in Article 23 of that law is it stated 'P36. neonatal sepsis', as a disease that would be subject to mandatory reporting for the purpose of epidemiological surveillance. Also, there is no evidence that neonatal sepsis P36 is on the list of diseases listed in the rulebook on the manner of reporting infectious diseases of hospital infections, conditions and deaths of patients suffering from infectious diseases, the articles of which list illnesses and deaths from infectious diseases that are subject to mandatory reporting in terms of the Law. the judge concluded.
According to the earlier first-instance verdict, Jeremić and Tahirović were each sentenced to seven months in prison, and Puletić and Cimbaljević to six months of house arrest.
The Court of Appeal overturned that decision and sentenced them to one year in prison each, while the Supreme Court ordered a retrial.
Karisik: Shameful decision
One of the parents of the infected babies, Predrag Karisik, said that the verdict was shameful.
"Unfortunately, all my doubts have come true in these seven years of court proceedings. Nothing else could be expected from the DPS court, the DPS Prosecutor's Office, which incorrectly writes indictments and rigs them up, which is controlled by Milo Đukanović and informal power centers that are stronger than the state. This court has collapsed today and the judge who made this decision is a moral low point," said Karisik.
He pointed out that the fight will continue, even though, as he said, they know that the institutions of the system in Montenegro are trapped, because they are commanded by the DPS.
"One child is dead, they tried to kill four more... They tried to kill our children, they killed one and they are free to kill our parents as well," Karisik said.
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