Pejović: We welcome today's arrests of former security officials and businessmen

We welcome today's arrests of former security officials and businessmen, as part of the SDT and SPO action, which represents a continuation of their fight against organized crime, said Boris Pejović, Vice President of the Parliament of Montenegro and member of the presidency of the Europe Now Movement (PES).

"We emphasize, in light of recent acquittals, that it is important for prosecutorial organizations to work on the quality and sustainability of indictments in order to materialize progress in the rule of law balance sheet," Pejović said in a statement provided by PES.

He said that they firmly believe that the 2020 regime change has enabled prosecutorial organizations to gain credible leaders through reform processes.

"However, we also understand that there are challenges such as the lack of human and financial capacity, as well as controversial actors in the judicial system, who continue to work in it despite their criminal record and connections to criminal structures," said Pejović.

He stressed that progress in combating organized crime and high-level corruption is important for fulfilling the final benchmarks in chapters 23 and 24, and thus the final phase of Montenegro's accession to the European Union, and for that purpose, but also for the purpose of achieving legal certainty for all our citizens, it is necessary to deliver results in the form of final convictions.

"In this regard, we welcome the efforts of the prosecution to contribute to these goals and prosecute all high-ranking officials from the former or current government who are involved in corruption or other forms of crime, whether they come from other party structures or from our own ranks," concluded Pejović.

In one of the largest operations by the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) and the Special Police Department (SPO), several former senior police officials, businessman Aleksandar Mijajlović and Senior State Prosecutor Andrijana Nastic, were arrested this morning.

According to "Vijesti", the former head of the Podgorica Security Center Milovan Pavicevic, police officer Vladan Lazovic, former assistant director of the Police Administration, and former head of counterintelligence protection at the National Security Agency Drago Spicanovic were arrested.