Božović and Šćepanović: Violation of surveillance measures should be adequately recognized within the legal framework

Violation of supervision measures should be adequately recognized within the legal framework and have an effective sanction.

This is stated in a joint statement from the Ministry of Justice and the Police Directorate.

"A productive meeting was held today between the Minister of Justice and the Director of the Police Directorate, at which the dynamics for the implementation of the technical application of electronic surveillance control of surveillance measures from Article 166, paragraph 3 of the Criminal Procedure Code were agreed upon, and on that occasion an Agreement on Legal and Technical Cooperation was signed, on the basis of which the technical prerequisites for the implementation of these activities will be provided as soon as possible. At today's meeting, it was once again pointed out that violations of surveillance measures should be adequately recognized within the legal framework and have an effective sanction," the statement reads.

It is added that in previous practice, violation of supervision measures had no sanction and that it could not be sanctioned in particular in cases where the maximum detention period of three years had expired.

"Therefore, among other things, a normative recognition of this matter was initiated through amendments to the Criminal Code of Montenegro and the introduction of a new criminal offense - violation of supervision measures. The proposed text of the amendment was sent to the European Commission for an opinion in June 2025. The Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Police Directorate say that they remain strongly committed to improving the legislative framework and fighting all forms of crime, with a special focus on serious and organized crime," the statement reads.