Four police inspectors accused of using serious violence to force a statement from Marko Boljevic, once accused of throwing a bomb at the "Grand" cafe and the sub-family house of a policeman Duško Golubović.
It is the Minister of the Interior Filip Adzic told the executive director of Human Rights Action (HRA) Tei Gorjanc Prelevic, which stated that the first police officer "fulfilled his legal duty afterwards nine months of refusing to do so”.
"Minister... Adžić informed Action for Human Rights in the attached letter that on April 5, he finally signed the decisions on the temporary removal from work of four police inspectors, who were accused of extorting statements with serious violence in mid-May last year. The fifth inspector was inevitably suspended earlier, because he has been in custody since February 8 on charges of drug trafficking," she stated. Gorjanc Prelevic.
She stated that Adžić had to do it much earlier and that the refusal cannot be justified by the alleged lack of police inspectors...
"That the inspectors were reasonably suspected of torturing Marko Boljević was established by the competent state prosecutor who filed an indictment against them, as well as by the court panel which confirmed the indictment. A minister in a state governed by the rule of law would have nothing else to think about but to sign the decision on the suspension of the accused officials for a criminal offense committed at work, as soon as it was delivered to him in July 2022, in accordance with Art. 176, paragraph 1, item 3 of the Law on Internal Affairs", stated the head of the HRA.
THEY WORKED UNDER SUSPENSION
She said that, however, from Adžić's notification that the inspectors were suspended on April 5, 2023, it follows that, even though they were suspended, they continued to apply their official powers and to investigate the murder of Vidak Vujović, which was only revealed on April 11.
"The minister is in the letter, and earlier, on April 13, in the show 'Nachisto' Petar Komnenić, praised the same inspectors for solving that brutal murder. Now there is a serious question about the legality of the evidence they obtained while they were suspended. In other words, it begs the question the extent of the damage caused by the minister's months-long refusal to remove the accused inspectors from the service in a timely manner", points out Gorjanc Prelević.
She said that this suspension would not have happened even now without the efforts of Action for Human Rights "to persevere in reminding Minister Adžić that he is obliged to apply the law, instead of openly doubting the correctness of both that law and the international standard for the prohibition of torture, which contains the same rule ".
"The minister called our warnings 'pressure', 'chasing', 'attempt to collapse institutions for the sake of obtaining grants', 'influence aimed at stopping the fight against organized crime', etc., thus placing us in the same rank as criminals. We are particularly disappointed with the qualifications of Minister Adžić, who represents a civil party (URA) in the government, as well as with the absence of any support for our advocacy from that party and criticism of his illegal actions and the brazen qualifications of our insistence on the application of laws and recommendations to Montenegro. by the UN Committee against Torture (CAT) and the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT)," the text states.
She said that the worst thing is that in all his speeches, the minister "showed disrespect for the human right to the absolute prohibition of torture and assumed in every way the accused police inspectors to be victims of police torture".
"There is not an iota of doubt that Marko Boljević was a victim of coercion to give an untrue statement on May 25, 2020 at the Podgorica Security Center. Who is responsible for all the undeserved injuries and sufferings he suffered while he was under the jurisdiction of police officers, we expect them to show criminal proceedings against the five accused inspectors and the investigation of their managers".
"The minister favored the accused policemen"
The Minister of Internal Affairs of the democratic state of the rule of law, on the way to the European Union, was obliged to respect the documents confirming the torture of Boljević in CB Podgorica, stated Gorjanc Prelevic.
"And to advocate in every way to determine the responsibility of the police for those actions and to divert the investigation into the placement of explosives at the "Grand" bar and the house of Duško Golubović from the real perpetrators, instead of humiliating the victim of torture by openly defending the accused police officers. Moreover, by favoring those officers, compared to over 1.300 other Montenegrin inspectors, who were not accused of abusing citizens, Minister Adžić sent a discouraging message to all those who do their work undoubtedly legally", wrote the executive director of Action for Human Rights.
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