Detainees at the Spuž Remand Prison said that it is not true that they are obstructing proceedings and postponing trials, but rather that they are coming to hearings exhausted.
"It is not true that we have deliberately started a strike during this period, we have been warning and seeking answers for months. We are not asking for our release, but for a written response to our demands so that there is no selectivity and abuse depending on the name of the accused, because the practice is in force, not the law of Montenegro," reads a statement signed by "Detainees of the Remand Prison", which was submitted to the media by lawyer Nikola Tomković.
They say they are determined not to end the hunger strike, but that they will also cancel their attorneys' powers of attorney at hearings starting Monday.
"Not to obstruct the proceedings, but to get a written answer so that we know whether the law applies equally to everyone. Do we have the right to defense and whether we need lawyers in proceedings before courts in Montenegro," they add.
They said that the key to the solution lies in the hands of the President of the Supreme Court, Valentina Pavličić, who is "on the defense of Montenegro being a state governed by the rule of law."
"Will the courts judge according to the practice introduced by its predecessors or according to the law and Constitution of Montenegro? Will they judge according to the wishes of political actors and the arbitrariness of individuals? That is why we hope that they will answer all eight questions and thus we would get out of the vicious circle we are in," the letter reads.
The Directorate for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions announced today that in the Remand Prison, out of a total of 124 detainees who express certain disagreements regarding the conditions of their accommodation and court proceedings, 103 of them are on hunger strike.
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