Podgorica prosecutors are investigating whether Danilo Mandić, the nephew and informal bodyguard of Parliament Speaker Andrija Mandić, misused an official parliamentary vehicle on the night he allegedly injured two people in Podgorica.
This was announced to "Vijesti" yesterday by the Podgorica Basic State Prosecutor's Office (ODT).
"We inform you that the Basic State Prosecutor's Office has ex officio opened a case regarding the aforementioned event," they told the newspaper, answering the question of whether they are conducting an investigation on their own initiative or based on someone's report regarding the case of potential misuse of the Parliament's official car, which Danilo Mandić allegedly used on the night of the attack.
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The Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica suspects Danilo Mandić of wounding Darko Perović and Aris Turković in the capital on the night between Friday and Saturday. The police department claims that Mandić blocked the path of Perović and Turković with the official vehicle of the legislative house, a Range Rover jeep, and fired "several shots at them, from which the injured parties sustained injuries in the leg area"... On Monday, a judge at the Podgorica Higher Court ordered Mandić to be detained for up to 30 days.
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Parliament and Andrija Mandić have been silent about the incident for five days and have not responded to questions from "Vijesti".
DPS demands hearing of Marković and Šćepanović
Due to this case, the opposition parties Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) and Social Democrats (SD) announced that they would launch initiatives to remove the first man of the legislative house (by the time this issue of "Vijesti" was concluded, they had not been submitted).
DPS leader Danijel Živković said yesterday that Andrija Mandić is "directly responsible for undermining the credibility of state institutions", saying that the party he leads "is less concerned about how someone will express themselves" in relation to their initiative. DPS will, as Živković announced, also request a control hearing of the Supreme State Prosecutor Milorad Marković and the acting director of the Police Administration Lazar Šćepanović in the same case.
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At a press conference yesterday, he accused the prosecution and the Police Directorate of trying to cover up the case.
"The prosecutor was not present at the scene. This is a serious scandal...", he said.
SD MP Nikola Zirojević told "Vijesti" the day before yesterday that they will demand Mandić's dismissal because, he claims, his responsibility is more than obvious.
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"Which is reflected in the fact that, as a member of some kind of personal security, to which he is otherwise not entitled by law, he hired his closest relative, a person with a thick record who has been repeatedly deprived of his liberty, and even sought after by members of the security services for a longer period of time," Zirojević stated.
At the beginning of March last year, Mandić "survived" a vote on his removal, which was initiated by the DPS, claiming that he was not worthy of the position.
It's hard to replace Mandic.
According to the Parliament's Rules of Procedure, a motion to dismiss the speaker must be signed by at least 10 MPs. SD has three, and DPS has 17, meaning they will have enough signatures to initiate the motion. If it is on the agenda and voted on, the removal of the speaker of parliament requires the support of a majority of the total number of MPs, at least 41.
As things currently stand, it is questionable whether the announced initiative will garner the support needed to remove Mandić. Miodrag Laković, a member of parliament from the strongest ruling party, the Europe Now Movement, said the day before yesterday that he did not think that the demand to remove Mandić was justified at this point, and it is also certain that the parties that make up the coalition “For the Future of Montenegro”, Mandić’s New Serbian Democracy and Milan Knežević’s Democratic People’s Party, will not vote “in favor”.
The day before yesterday, the Democrats unofficially told "Vijesti" that parliamentary property, which includes official vehicles, is not managed by the Speaker of the Parliament, in accordance with regulations, and that it is therefore questionable whether Andrija Mandić can be charged with misuse of an official car. The Socialist People's Party, the Albanian Forum and the United Montenegro told the newspaper that they would not support the initiative.
Force MP Ilir Čapuni told Vijesti that he would vote to dismiss Mandić. The day before yesterday, when asked by the newspaper whether Mandić should resign because his nephew was driving an official vehicle on the night of the alleged attack, he said that it was a personal act, but yesterday he told Vijesti that “the outpouring of ignorance of the provisions of the Law on Minority Rights and Freedoms and the blatant violation of the rights of representatives of the Albanian people” at a parliamentary session discussing the ratification of the agreement with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) “entitles him to vote in the affirmative.”
Čapuni requested a halt to the session the night before last, claiming that the agreements with the UAE allegedly threaten the rights of minority communities. His request was rejected by Mandić and Minister of Public Works Majda Adžović, who assessed that the agreements do not threaten these rights. Parliament ratified the agreements later that evening.
The Civic Movement (GP) URA indirectly confirmed yesterday that they would support the initiative regarding Mandić.
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The Bosniak Party, MPs Mehmed Zenka and Adrijan Vuksanović, and their colleague Jevrosima Pejović did not respond to "Vijesti" as to whether they would support the removal of the first person in the legislative chamber.
If they (along with independent MP Radinka Ćinćur) voted with DPS, SD, GP URA and Čapuni to dismiss Mandić, they would be at least six votes short of his dismissal (they would have 35).
ODT: An investigation could not be conducted because the police did not have the details
After the shooting in which Perović and Turković were wounded, an on-site investigation could not be conducted because the police officers at that moment did not have detailed information about the immediate scene, nor did they point out to the state prosecutor any possible traces or other material evidence found at a location.
The Podgorica ODT responded to "Vijesti" yesterday, stating that their prosecutor on duty was informed about the incident on April 19 at 5.01:XNUMX a.m.
The Police Directorate said the same thing, saying that until then they had been implementing measures against Perović, who was fleeing from the police, causing a traffic accident, and was then arrested.
They reiterated that that morning, at around 3.40:XNUMX, they were informed by phone from citizens that a conflict had broken out in the center of Podgorica between several people, one of whom had used a firearm. They claim that they found Perović at that location, who refused to show identification and then fled, but no other people, except for eyewitnesses to the incident.
They also explained the chronology of the entire event, stating that that morning they conducted an inspection and search of the immediate and wider area of the crime scene three times, in order to find objects and traces, about which documents were drawn up with accompanying photo documentation.
In the statement, they also say when they notified the primary and higher state prosecutors, but they claim that Perović did not give the police officers accurate information about the circumstances of the injury.
They pointed out that they had examined and seized a large number of surveillance cameras, collected information from several people, and determined that the injured parties and the suspect were in the same bar during the critical evening.
"And the movement of the 'Range Rover' vehicle suspected of being used in the commission of the criminal offense by DM. During the criminal investigation, police officers learned that the now-suspected DM used a firearm to the detriment of DP, and another injured party, AT, was also identified."
They spoke out after "Vijesti" reported yesterday that Perović, during a hearing before the prosecutor, said that it was not Mandić who wounded him, but that the police forced him to accuse the Podgorica resident. The other wounded man, Turković, did the same, saying that he did not remember any details of the incident, not even how he was injured. Both said that they would not prosecute Mandić.
Mandić's defense attorney, Miroje Jovanović, told "Vijesti" yesterday that from the evidence collected so far in the case against his "innocently suspected client", it can be unequivocally determined that he did not participate in the commission of any criminal offense on April 19th.
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Ivanovic has no comment on the shooting
Deputy Prime Minister and senior PES official Filip Ivanović did not want to comment on the shooting in which Danilo Mandić allegedly participated at a session of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee (AFET) in Brussels yesterday.
Croatian MEP Tomislav Sokol asked him for his opinion on the "mafia shooting".
"Is this in line with European values and do you think he (Andrija Mandić) should resign because of it?" he asked.
Ivanovic responded that he had no opinion on the shooting incident and that he was surprised that it was mentioned in the EP.
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