Miloš Medenica, the accused leader of an organized crime group, who was sentenced to ten years and two months in prison in the first instance last week, these days, instead of being in prison, he appears in videos in which his character is joking with the Montenegrin police - who, in turn, claim that it is all a product of artificial intelligence.
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Former special prosecutor Lidija Mitrović was supposed to report a few days ago to serve a seven-month prison sentence for abuse of office, but instead she is smiling at the numerous memes she appears in, along with Medenica and some other characters who have avoided prison in recent years.
This is Montenegro, at the beginning of the year, which is supposed to close all chapters in negotiations with the European Union. The surreal situation that has exposed all the weaknesses of the security sector and the judicial system has so far not led to resignations, but to bickering among the top people in the police and judiciary over who is responsible for the scandals that entertain the public.
It seems that the government, which was building its political agenda on these cases about the "criminal state" and the "mafia octopus" created by the former government of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), during its thirty-year rule, was not too worried either.
First important verdicts - no punishment for now
Miloš Medenica and his mother, former Supreme Court President Vesna Medenica, were sentenced last week to ten years and two months, or ten years in prison. Miloš for criminal association and drug and cigarette smuggling, and the once most powerful woman in the Montenegrin judiciary for unlawfully influencing fellow judges in several cases.
It was the first verdict that was supposed to "bolden" Montenegro's record in key chapters in negotiations with the EU, which concern organized crime and corruption.
On the day the verdict was handed down, the police informed the public that Miloš Medenica had fled, meaning that he had not been found in the apartment where he was under house arrest. The Police Directorate and the High Court in Podgorica have since been arguing over who failed to appear in this case, and an Interpol red notice has been issued for Medenica.
"I will not resign," said Montenegrin Police Director Lazar Šćepanović just a day later, denying responsibility for Medenica's escape. Šćepanović, as well as the ruling parties, blame the High Court for Medenica's escape because it failed to reach a verdict in the case within three years, which allowed Medenica to be released from custody last year.
On the other hand, the court and the wider public indicate that, according to Montenegrin regulations, it is clear that the police are the ones who should control persons who are under surveillance measures or house arrest.
"If you had secured the building a day earlier, Miloš Medenica would have been in custody," said the president of the Podgorica Higher Court, Zoran Radović, to police chief Šćepanović in the show "Načisto" on Television Vijesti, to which Šćepanović replied: "If you had ordered his detention, this would not have happened."
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Šćepanović, Minister of Internal Affairs Danilo Šaranović, and Director of the National Security Agency Ivica Janović will be questioned in the Parliament of Montenegro regarding the escape of Medenica and former prosecutor Lidija Mitrović.
Her case is somewhat different, because she was not under supervision measures, she requested a postponement of serving her sentence - and both the court and the police claim that they acted promptly. However, on January 14, the Podgorica Basic Court issued an order for the forcible transfer of Mitrović to prison, and the police only sent the court a letter on January 30, 16 days later, stating that she was not at the registered address.
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System collapse?
The case of Miloš Medenica's escape is irresistibly reminiscent of the case of former high-ranking Montenegrin official Svetozar Marović and his son Miloš, who were sentenced to long prison terms for corruption ten years ago. After their sentences, they simply left for Belgrade and have been inaccessible to Montenegrin authorities ever since.
Miloš Marović's sentence has meanwhile expired, and Svetozar Marović's will at the end of this year - and they will then be able to return to Montenegro as free citizens.
Official Serbia, under the rule of Aleksandar Vučić, has repeatedly ignored requests from both the former and current Montenegrin authorities to extradite Marović. It is possible that Miloš Medenica and Lidija Mitrović have followed in their footsteps. Given the length of the prison sentence, three and a half years is enough for Lidija Mitrović to hide, and her sentence will expire.
Montenegrin Prime Minister Milojko Spajić made only one statement, on the X network, saying that Medenica's escape was unacceptable to him. He requested a meeting with the minister and police director Šaranović and Šćepanović, in order to determine where the failures occurred and who should be held responsible for them. He has since fallen silent, or rather, traveled to the United Arab Emirates, and it is not known whether the meeting even took place.
Montenegrin President Jakov Milatović called on him to remove those responsible for the failures or to take responsibility himself. After Lidija Mitrović's new escape, the opposition said that this was no longer an isolated matter and that it was about "the failure of the security sector."
However, this kind of collapse of the system will not, for now, likely lead to any resignations, and all other convicts in Montenegro have received a kind of "road map" - how to avoid serving their sentences. Too much - especially for a country that is expected to be the first member of the European Union.
Bonus video:
