Due to the damage of at least 400.000 euros caused by the dismissal of more than 140 kindergarten, primary and secondary school directors, the former Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Vesna Bratic She was arrested yesterday morning in an investigation by the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT), "Vijesti" learned.
Bratić held that position for a little over a year - from the first post-DPS government elected on December 4, 2020, to February 4, 2022, when she was voted out of office.
In the first half of her term, she dismissed almost all school principals in Montenegro.
While the opposition accused her of political revenge, Bratić justified her dismissals in education by depoliticizing the education system, claiming that some of the dismissed directors had abused educational institutions for political purposes.
"On the order of the Special State Prosecutor's Office, the Special Police Department in Podgorica deprived one person of his liberty due to the existence of grounds for suspicion that he committed the criminal offense of abuse of official position," it said in a statement yesterday.
After the hearing, she was ordered detained, and her legal representative, attorney Mitar Šušić, told "Vijesti" that Vesna Bratić denied guilt and stated that she had dismissed directors legally:
"She defended herself the same way the state defended itself, that she dismissed them according to the law because they did not fulfill their legal obligations, which is why they were dismissed," said Šušić.
In mid-2023, the SDT institution announced that they would request information from Bratić about the director's replacements, while at the same time explaining that they had already received the documentation from the Ministry.
Two years later - in April 2025, the Minister of Education, Science and Innovation Anđela Jakšić Stojanović She announced to MPs that the state had paid out more than 400.000 euros due to illegal dismissals of directors.
Unofficial information suggests that this figure is now higher...
Jakšić Stojanović She said that 139 disputes had been concluded by then and that in all cases final judgments had been issued, annulling the Ministry's decisions from 2021 as illegal.
"Regarding lawsuits for compensation for material damage, 38 proceedings have been concluded with final judgment. The total amount is 392.312,33 euros. In 2023, 119.325 euros were paid, in 2024, 222.043 euros, and this year 50.943,02 euros. Based on the unlawful dismissal of members of the Ethics Committee, 106.000 euros were paid from the budget. All records are kept by the Protector of Property and Legal Interests of Montenegro, who represents the Ministry," said Jakšić Stojanović.
The former minister previously told "Vijesti" that she has nothing against the proceedings initiated against her by the Protector of Property and Legal Relations, assessing that a political persecution has been waged against her for years.
"And I'm not afraid of courts or prosecutors, it's about people who are just doing their job. I have no fear of their work because I did everything according to the law. We are, in fact, on the same task, which is to determine the culprit, and that's how it will be," she pointed out.
Double negative
Special prosecutor Vukas Radonjic, previously told "Vijesti" that they had filed a case against the former minister based on a report by the non-governmental organization Center for Civic Education (CCE) and due to the double negative opinion of the State Audit Institution (DRI) and possible violation of the law in managing the budget of 219.193.714,26 euros in 2021.
"NGO CGE submitted a criminal complaint to the prosecutor's office regarding the report with a negative opinion of the State Audit Institution for the year 2021, about the work of the then Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports. The special prosecutor submitted a written request to the Special Police Department, which ordered the seizure of financial and other documentation and the collection of notifications in the capacity of a citizen from the former Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, the State Secretary and other persons," Radonjić replied to "Vijesta".
In September 2022, the SAI submitted an audit of the former ministry headed by Bratić to the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office, which they forwarded to the SDT. In the same month, the CCE also filed a criminal complaint.
The Supreme State Audit Office then identified numerous irregularities, and the auditors made 22 recommendations, four on financial reporting and 18 on the regularity of operations, to the legal successors of the former ministry - the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Culture and Media, the Ministry of Sports and Youth, and the Ministry of Science and Technological Development.
The CGE recently announced that SDT, eight months after the criminal complaint against Bratić and the responsible persons in that former ministry, does not even know what documentation it possesses.
The parties are defended.
Some pro-Serbian parties defended Bratić yesterday, stating that he was the person who "made the greatest contribution to the depoliticization" of the education system in Montenegro.
New Serbian Democracy expressed solidarity with the former minister, noting that the prosecution is dealing with her instead of the accumulated criminal actions of the former regime...
"Many authorities need to think carefully about what kind of message they are sending at this moment, when the eyes of the entire Montenegrin public are focused on the security sector, by arresting a doctor of science and professor, as if he were the most hardened criminal, just because he has taken on the fight to cleanse the system that educates and trains our youth from political indoctrination and further decay," the party announced. Andrije Mandić on Facebook.
They said that they have always been and will always be in favor of everyone having access to law and justice:
"But let the citizens judge why Vesna Bratić is being detained today, while the top of the criminal octopus continues to carelessly walk the streets of Montenegro, and some even outside of it."
And from the Democratic People's Party (DNP) Milan Knežević, they assessed that the only sin of the arrested woman was "that she had the courage to break the deep-rooted octopus of the Democratic Party of Socialists in the Ministry of Education and Culture."
"And to begin dismantling the system that has abused institutions for decades. If that is the reason for her arrest, then, by the same logic, all citizens who voted for change, for freedom and for an end to the thirty-year reign of injustice, corruption and crime on August 30, 2020 should also be arrested."
They called on the prosecution "to finally start doing its job in the interest of justice and citizens", by first inviting Milo Đukanović and members of his family, as well as everyone around him who have been looting and ravaging Montenegro for 30 years, for an informational interview.
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"Vesna Bratić was held in custody for 72 hours at the request of prosecutor Jovan Vukotić. Thus, we witnessed university professor Vesna Bratić, due to the alleged possibility of escape and influence over witnesses, being taken to a concrete mixer truck, while Vesna Medenica skis in Kolašin. It is an unfortunate country where such things happen, it is a shame for the new government, whatever that means," the leader of the United Goran Danilović.
Court: She did not act with intent or negligence
In December, the Basic Court in Podgorica rejected the state's claim in a recourse lawsuit against Vesna Bratić, which sought to reimburse around 15.281 euros with statutory default interest for the costs of the litigation.
This is the amount paid by the state after dismissed directors of educational institutions initiated and succeeded in their disputes.
In July last year, the Ombudsman's office told "Vijesti" that this was the first recourse lawsuit against Vesna Bratić, involving around 30 former school principals.
That court found that it had not been proven that Bratić had acted with intent or extreme negligence, and that there was no causal link between her dismissal decisions and the costs borne by the state.
The explanation states that the claimed damages relate exclusively to the costs of legal proceedings, and not to any possible lost earnings of the director, and that Bratić was not a party to these lawsuits, nor could she influence their conduct or the amount of costs.
The state was represented by the Protector of Property and Legal Interests, who appealed the verdict to the Higher Court and requested its annulment.
The appeal states that the court incorrectly determined the factual situation and incorrectly applied substantive law, and that the mass and standard dismissal decisions, signed on the same day, indicated at least extreme negligence.
It is particularly noteworthy that among the 29 decisions, one was found that referred to the deceased director, which, as stated, calls into question the conclusion that due care was taken.
State representative Aleksandar Veljović stated in his appeal that the litigation and costs were a direct and foreseeable consequence of such decisions, and that the underlying cause of the damage was the unlawful dismissal, which is why he requested that the Higher Court quash the verdict and return the case for retrial.
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