Former police official Milorad Mić Žižić, who was arrested today on the orders of the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT), was claimed by the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), certain media outlets and organizations to be a victim of political persecution by the Democrats, said Boris Bogdanović, the president of the parliamentary group and secretary general of that political party, and asked the aforementioned - where is the apology?
"The information that Milorad Žižić was detained again in an action by the SDT and SPO once again opens up a story in which an atmosphere was created in which certain police officers defended themselves in party offices, in the editorial offices of certain media outlets, and in the minds of individuals tasked with producing smoke screens that are in the interests of organized crime with the aim of trying to stop vetting in the Police Directorate.
How many times in recent years have we heard individual actors on the socio-political stage racing to protect precisely those police officials whose professional integrity has been questioned the longest and most deeply, calling the cleansing of the security sector in accordance with legal mechanisms and obligations political persecution? How many times have the same individuals appeared as their spokespeople and protectors, before any verification, before any investigation, before any facts?" Bogdanović stated in a press release.
He pointed out that the fact that on March 20, 2018, the SDT, headed by Milivoje Katnić, made a decision that there was "no evidence" that Žižić was connected to criminal groups was particularly worrying.
That decision, Bogdanović assessed, is perhaps the clearest symbol of an era in which the justice system was turning into a system of protection, not of protection of the law, but of protection of crime.
"Today, when we see the same people being used again in actions against organized crime, the question arises: how much time has been lost? How much trust has been destroyed? How many structures could have been dismantled much earlier if the leaders, directors, and the prosecutor's office had done their job, and not carried out the tasks of the organized crime bosses? Who has been defending dirty police officers for decades? Who has been creating parallel centers of power in the security sector? Who has been trying to make "heroes" out of suspected police officers? Who has been using political and media megaphones to relativize any suspicion, instead of protecting the public interest? This is probably the only country in Europe where individual police officers have had protectors in various structures and institutions with the task of defending the indefensible. This is not a showdown with people, this is a showdown with a culture of impunity that someone has persistently nurtured, protected, and defended," concluded Bogdanović.
According to information from "Vijesti", police officers searched the apartment of Žižić, former head of the Department for Suppression of Serious Crimes in the Sector for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption, in the City Quarter of Podgorica, as well as the "Golf 8" he uses.
Žižić was suspended in August by decision of the Minister of Internal Affairs, at the proposal of the Director of the Police Administration.
It was then explained that the suspension decision was served on him due to security concerns.
In June 2019, Žižić was appointed head of the most important Department in the Sector for the Fight against Organized Crime and Corruption (SBPOKK), which was then headed by the now-indicted Zoran Lazović.
Former Assistant Director of the Police Administration Dejan Knežević was also arrested today.
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