from Nikšić Miloš Jevtic was sentenced to three months of house arrest, because on March 14, 2021, he threatened a Vijesti journalist with reckless behavior Jelena Jovanović and a policeman Milinka Dragić.
After almost a year and clear television recordings, the Basic Court in Nikšić passed a first-instance verdict against the forty-year-old.
Jevtić, after the closing of the local election polls in the town of Trebjes, first harassed an officer of the Police Administration, then in the continuation of his "performance", he removed a part from a parked vehicle and hit Jovanović in the head with it.
"By perpetrating violence against others, with impudent and reckless behavior, he threatened the peace of the injured Jovanović Jelena and Dragić Milinka and disturbed public order and peace, in such a way that, after several insults and threats he directed against the police officer - the injured Dragić Milinka, the same tore off the protective mask from his face, then took an unknown object from the passenger motor vehicle and threw it in his direction and hit him in the head - left ear area, causing him slight physical injury... after which he took another unknown object from the same vehicle and threw it in the direction of the injured party... with which he hit the injured Jovanović Jelena, who on that occasion received a slight physical injury," the judge's verdict states. Vukota Vujačić.
In the explanation, the defendant's defense is stated, in which he stated, among other things, that on that day, from the morning hours, he consumed alcohol, and that due to his intoxicated state, he could not remember the events until he saw everything on television.
"In his closing statement, the defendant, personally and through his defense counsel, while remaining true to his confession, pointed out that he was guilty and responsible for the criminal offense he was charged with, he expressed real remorse... and proposed to the court that he it is possible to have a lighter sentence," the first-instance verdict reads.
Enable journalists to work freely
Jovanović's legal representative, lawyer Mladen Tomović, stated that the first-instance judgment in a certain sense determined a form of satisfaction for the injured parties who suffered minor physical injuries while performing work tasks.
"What is much more significant is the fact that this judgment shows the conditions and circumstances in which journalists perform their work tasks, and that in performing them they are often exposed to the risk of violating their own, both psychological and physical integrity. "Such incidents must be a strong alarm for state authorities to fully implement their legal responsibilities in order to ensure the safety of journalists and their safe and undisturbed work, without which we cannot talk about media freedom in full," said Tomović.
He assessed that compensation for non-material damages in civil proceedings, in relation to current court practice, cannot be adequate compensation for all that the injured party is going through.
"And my opinion is that the courts in these cases should have a greater degree of sensitivity and emulate the practice of the European Court of Human Rights, as well as the comparative international practice related to compensation claims by journalists. Certainly, such and similar events undoubtedly leave long-term traumas and can act as a disincentive for public speakers in the future exercise of the journalistic profession, which is why it is first and foremost up to the state to create adequate conditions for safe and undisturbed work - both of the media and their employees." , announced Tomović.
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