A Podgorica woman who has her friend IS sent a farewell video before she allegedly committed suicide, she filed a criminal complaint against an unidentified police officer, on suspicion that the recording had been leaked to the public.
This resident of the capital, whose identity is known to the "Vijesti" editorial office, claims that her mother did not give the video to anyone except a Podgorica police officer, and that she did so after it was revealed that IS had disappeared.
Shortly after her body was found in the Šteke settlement, these recordings were published on several portals from neighboring countries, previously given, as the Podgorica woman claims, only to the inspector.
In a criminal complaint filed on behalf of a woman from Podgorica and her mother with the Podgorica Basic State Prosecutor's Office by a lawyer Miomir Joksimović, it was also explained why they are requesting an investigation.
“The applicant and her mother were very close friends with the deceased I. The deceased I. sent two video recordings to the applicant's mother on January 13, 2025, via the Viber application, in which she told her that she could no longer bear her life. After it was announced that the deceased I. had been declared missing, the applicant's mother, accompanied by a neighbor, went to the premises of the Police Administration, Podgorica Security Department, on January 14, 2025, and handed over these video recordings to the police officers on duty. Unfortunately, as the public is already aware, the body of the deceased I. was found on January 16, 2025. Immediately after the public was informed that the body of the deceased I. had been found, a text with video recordings of her farewell messages that the applicant's mother handed over to the police was published on the Kurir website,” the criminal complaint states.
Lawyer Joksimović, in addition to the link to the text on the Kurira portal, also listed several others who also published the farewell video sent to the two women from Podgorica.
He also wrote in the report that a simple search can determine who posted those videos and claimed that the Podgorica resident did not hand over the recordings in question, nor did she make them available to anyone except police officers:
"From which arises a well-founded suspicion that the recording of the late I. was further shared by one of the police officers, after which it reached the journalist of Kurir, who published the recordings and thus made them available to the general public."
Joksimović proposed to the prosecution that they conduct an evidentiary hearing of the complainant, order an expert examination of the telephone and telephone communications, and question the police officers who were involved in the investigation.
"Therefore, due to a reasonable suspicion that a police officer of the Podgorica Police Department unknown to the applicant handed over the farewell recordings of the late IS in question, which significantly intrude on her personal life, to a third party outside the Podgorica Police Department, thereby committing unauthorized photography and filming under Article 174 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro, for which reason the applicant proposes that the competent prosecutor open an investigation, hear the applicant and other relevant witnesses, conduct the necessary expert examination, establish the identity of the officer who distributed the disputed recordings to third parties, and file an indictment against him," it is written in the criminal complaint, which "Vijesti" had access to.
He also provided the prosecutor with an excerpt from the Viber correspondence of the complainant and now deceased woman from Podgorica.
IS's body was found on January 16 in the settlement of Šteke, near Podgorica. According to initial information, the police assume that it was a suicide, but this will be known after all the analyses and expert reports.
Her family reported her disappearance to the police three days earlier.
Right next to where the body was found, IS was last seen driving a car.
Journalists' code of conduct is clear, the court could react
The Code of Journalists of Montenegro clearly stipulates that reporting on suicides requires utmost restraint and moderation from journalists, and that in such situations, names and detailed descriptions of the circumstances in which the suicide occurred should not be published, and that exceptions are justified only if it is of exceptional interest to the public.
In addition, it is stipulated that all guidelines regarding the right to privacy apply, where possible, when dealing with the deceased.
Several portals from neighboring countries, however, in reporting on the IS suicide, went beyond ethical norms and published farewell video messages from the woman from Podgorica, which were not intended for the general public, but for those to whom she sent them.
Although censorship is prohibited in Montenegro, the competent court could have considered whether to restrict access to that content, at least from Montenegro, due to the insult to the dignity of the late IS and her family.
Article 50 of the Constitution of Montenegro, which stipulates that there is no censorship in Montenegro, stipulates that the competent court may, under certain conditions, prevent the dissemination of information and ideas through the media.
The Media Law is clear, and it stipulates that the competent court may, upon the proposal of the state prosecutor, prohibit further dissemination of media content in cases where this is necessary in the interest of protecting the national security and territorial integrity of Montenegro, to prevent disorder or the commission of criminal offenses, to protect health and morals, to protect the reputation or rights of others, to prevent the disclosure of confidential information, or to preserve the authority and impartiality of the judiciary.
This legal act also stipulates that this procedure is urgent, and that the hearing must be held within 24 hours of receiving the proposal.
A journalist from "Vijesti" reported the case of sharing the farewell video of IS to the Podgorica Basic State Prosecutor's Office and the Police Directorate on the evening of January 16, after which she was unofficially informed that a case had been opened.
Last night, it was not possible to access the links where the recording was previously published, but the editorial staff of "Vijesti" has no information whether the court has ordered the restriction of that content.
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