The Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica, in its decision dated May 11, 2022, assessed that the dismissal of the criminal charges against 10 officers of the Security Center (CB) Podgorica who are suspected of torturing Jovan Grujičić in the investigation of the "bombing attacks" was premature and based on an incompletely established factual situation. , Human Rights Action (HRA) announced.
It is added that the Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica (ODT) was ordered to fully establish the facts of this case, and then make a fair and legal decision.
"Action for Human Rights welcomes this decision of the Higher Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica and appeals to the ODT to act as soon as possible according to the instructions, bearing in mind that almost two years have passed since the abuse of Jovan Grujičić, and no order has been issued to conduct an investigation, even though the findings experts, both domestic and foreign, have undoubtedly established that he was a victim of police torture," the statement reads.
They add that the list of suspects for the torture of Grujičić included Miloš Vučinić, head of the Criminal Police Department in CB Podgorica and Srđan Korać, head of the Criminal Police Station for the Suppression of Blood Offenses and Domestic Violence, as well as inspectors Vukašin Leković, Dalibor Ljekočević, Bojan Vujačić, Nemanja Vujošević, Radoman Vujičić, Miodrag Jovović, Ivan Peruničić and Ljubisav Striković.
"HRA reminds that on March 8, 2022, the primary state prosecutor in Podgorica, Maja Knežević, issued a decision in which she dismissed the criminal charges against all ten reported officers of the Police Administration in whose custody Jovan Grujičić was on May 26, 5. Prosecutor Knežević concluded that it was 'obvious' that none of the reported officers who interrogated him and were constantly in charge of him tortured Grujicic, because they did not admit it, and he could not recognize them, because they were masked. of the Special Psychiatric Hospital in CB Podgorica, that they mistreated him 'in order to obtain appropriate confessions or information from him, put pressure on him and inflicted certain physical injuries on him as stated in the findings and opinions of medical experts'; that almost all the suspects confirmed that they were in charge, that they knew that Grujičić was taken into custody and questioned, or that they actively participated in the aforementioned hearing, but since no one confessed to the criminal act, and the injured party could not recognize any of them, she concluded that apparently the reported persons they did not," writes HRA.
HRA notes that in the investigation of the "bombing attacks" three people were abused, which must have been planned and very likely by the same police officers, who had the same superiors.
"Accordingly, it is unlikely that the elders in CB Podgorica did not know about such a practice, which certainly existed. As the investigations in these cases were conducted on a limited basis, with the management of ODT Podgorica ignoring the bigger picture, this had the consequence that in in relation to all the suspects for extorting a statement from Grujičić, state prosecutor Knežević dismissed the criminal charges, while another prosecutor, Romina Vlahović, charged five police inspectors with extorting statements from Marko Boljević, including those suspected of torturing Grujičić. always waits, after several delays. In the investigation of the case of the so-called bombings, officers of the Police Administration, by extorting statements from Marko Boljević, Benjamin Mugoša and Jovan Grujičić, tried to blame innocent people for criminal acts that they did not commit, we assume to protect those who actually carried them out," stated Action for Human Rights.
However, as it is written in the announcement, due to circumstances that were beyond the control of the police, both suspects for the "bomb attacks", Benjamin Mugoša and Jovan Grujičić, were cleared of any suspicion that they had committed criminal acts.
"Judge Nenad Vujanović, acquitting the defendant Grujičić, assessed that his testimony was coerced, while medical experts determined that the victims were tortured with blows and electric shockers. Foreign experts, hired by HRA with the help of the UN Fund for Torture Victims, have detailed reports with Boljević and Grujičić, in addition to traces of physical torture, they also established the existence of post-traumatic stress syndrome," HRA added.
HRA points out that the European Commission, in a non-paper document published this month regarding torture and ill-treatment, stated that Montenegro must react to prolonged and ineffective investigations, mild sanctions that do not serve the purpose of prevention, as well as the impunity of perpetrators of abuse.
"Furthermore, in the Concluding Observations on Montenegro, which were published on May 13, the UN Committee against Torture expressed concern over reports of physical and psychological torture of persons deprived of their liberty by the police, during their interrogation, with the aim of extorting statements or obtaining information. as well as due to the lack of effective investigations. The HRA pointed out to the Committee the case of Jovan Grujičić and 14 other reports of coercion of statements by the Montenegrin police. Jovan Grujičić is represented by lawyer Damir Lekić, within the framework of the HRA program that financially supports the UN Fund for Victims of Torture (UNVFVT)." , concludes Action for Human Rights.
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