The Society of Professional Journalists (DPNCG) has asked the Bar Association to determine whether lawyers Danilo Mićović and Marta Šćepanović, as the defense attorneys of Zoran Bećirović, accused of attacking "Pobjeda" journalist Ana Raičković, violated the Code of Professional Ethics when they offered data on the journalist's health condition as evidence at the trial.
"As reported by the media, and confirmed by a journalist for the DPNCG, the defense of the defendants submitted to Judge Ilija Radulović, at the hearing on March 28 this year, a report by a specialist doctor from the Clinical Center of Montenegro and requested that it be presented as evidence. Mićović proposed that the report by the specialist doctor, whose name he read out, be presented as evidence, and then commented on the symptoms of the disease, specifying the diagnosis," said the president of the DPNCG, Mila Radulović.
He recalls that the court rejected that proposal.
"The Code, which was published on the website of the Bar Association and dates back to the time of the FRY, states 'that a lawyer realizes and protects the interests of the client, but also serves the interests of justice and that he is obliged to contribute to the rule of law and a society based on respect for the law through his professional and other public actions and personal example'. It also states that 'a lawyer is obliged to perform his profession conscientiously, carefully, decisively, promptly, with honesty towards the client, with full dedication to the case entrusted to him and with the use of all his knowledge and abilities and all legally permitted and justified means'. As well as 'a lawyer may use only permitted and honorable means. A lawyer may not participate in or assist in the illicit acquisition of rights...' Although it is a document from the FRY, there is no other one on the Chamber's website, so we believe that this one is valid," says Radulović.
He claims that two lawyers, one of whom is the president of the Bar Association, knowingly violated the Personal Data Protection Act, as well as the provisions of the Bar Association's Code, by offering evidence that was illegally obtained and that they violated the journalist's privacy, because health data is "the most protected by law (along with the citizen's identification number)."
In its protest to the Bar Association, the DPNCG expressed its expectation that it would decide in accordance with the laws of Montenegro and the Code, "not guided by the fact that it concerns the president of the Chamber and a former high-ranking DPS official," who "publicly advocated for the rule of law and was a member of the parliamentary Committee on the Judiciary."
"We requested that the Disciplinary Prosecutor conduct the procedure, determining whether the illegal and unethical actions of the two lawyers constitute a disciplinary offense, and to punish them accordingly. The email sent to the Chamber last week did not even receive confirmation that it had been received, and that it would be forwarded to the competent authorities. Given that the Bar Association should be one of the pillars of the rule of law, we hope that they will not ignore our initiative and that they will make a decision before the Podgorica Public Prosecutor's Office, which has launched a criminal investigation into this matter," the statement reads.
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