Is there any hope that after more than a decade, it will be found out who was in the police formation that beat and abused people for no reason on Zlatarska Street, in the very center of Podgorica, on the night of October 24, 2015, after breaking up a protest by the then Democratic Front? Branimir Vukčević and a Canadian citizen Momcilo Baranina, will be known after the decision of the Higher Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica, to which Vukčević will file a complaint in a few days to review the decisions and qualification of the criminal offense by the Basic State Prosecutor's Office.
Vukčević told "Vijesti" that he was informed on February 13 that the Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica, four days earlier, had dismissed the criminal complaint in the so-called Zlatarska Street case, with the explanation that "the criminal prosecution had become statute-barred in October 2021."
"With the lawsuit, I will request that the criminal act be reclassified as torture, i.e. unlawful punishment, and not as abuse, because that would extend the statute of limitations by almost another ten years, or until 2035. This will be the last hope to find out which SAJ member beat us that night," said Vukčević.
He said that since 2015, he has watched the footage of police torture at least 1.000 times, even though neither he nor Baranin were rioters or resisted the police, but he also demanded answers from the acting prosecutors of the Podgorica ODT and a more agile investigation.
"I will request through a complaint that all decisions of the Podgorica Public Prosecutor's Office be reviewed," he said.
The footage recorded by "Vijesti" journalists from the editorial office window shows police officers forcing Baranin and Vukčević to lie on the sidewalk, then beating and kicking them...
After police torture, Baranin and Vukčević were left lying on the street with their injuries.
Human Rights Action announced yesterday that the decision proclaims the systemic failure of the State Prosecutor's Office of Montenegro to ensure punishment for obvious police torture, which the whole world could see, thanks to the recording by a "Vijesti" journalist.
HRA states that the decision to statute-barred criminal prosecution comes after both the Constitutional Court of Montenegro and the European Court of Human Rights determined that the State Prosecutor's Office failed to conduct an investigation in accordance with international standards.
They also announced in a statement that the injured party, Branimir Vukčević, will file a complaint with the Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica, requesting that the criminal act be qualified as torture, i.e. unlawful punishment, and that the statute of limitations be extended until 2035.
"Despite the gravity of the allegations and the evidence, the police officers who committed the abuse have not been identified to this day, more than ten years after the event. The case remained in the investigative phase for a decade, only for the criminal charges to finally be dismissed – not due to a lack of evidence, but due to the statute of limitations resulting from the failure of the competent authorities to act. It is also scandalous that the Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica kept the case open for more than four years after the date it now claims the statute of limitations had expired. Of course, the last action in the case was taken in 2021, after the European Court of Human Rights issued its judgment in the case of Baranin and Vukčević v. Montenegro, in which it found a violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights," HRA said.
The NGO said that they had filed constitutional complaints on behalf of Baranin and Vukčević on January 22, 2017.
“On 21 June 2017, the Constitutional Court of Montenegro unanimously found a violation of the constitutional prohibition of torture due to the ineffective investigation of police abuse – for the first time in its practice. Despite this historic decision, the Basic State Prosecutor’s Office in Podgorica never conducted an investigation in accordance with minimum European standards. Subsequently, on 11 March 2021, the European Court of Human Rights found that Montenegro had failed to conduct a prompt, thorough, independent and effective investigation, nor had it ensured public oversight of the investigation, which further deepened impunity. The Court specifically pointed out that state authorities had not eliminated the shortcomings of the investigation even after the Constitutional Court’s decision, that not all witnesses had been heard, that everyone who was on the ground had not been questioned, that the Forensic Center had not been involved, and that the injured parties had not been provided with adequate participation in the investigation. The Court also stressed the complete dependence of the prosecution on police structures that were in the same chain of command as the suspected police officers, which excluded their independence investigation," the statement said.
HRA said that the European Court of Human Rights, to which a complaint was also filed because the state failed to conduct an adequate investigation even after the Constitutional Court's decision, clearly stated that the payment of monetary damages and disciplinary punishment of a manager cannot replace the obligation to conduct an effective investigation.
"Responsibility for this institutional failure lies with the acting state prosecutors in this case - Danka Ivanovic Djeric and Sladjana Spanjevic Volkov, which were the first and longest to act on the case, as well as the state prosecutors who got involved after the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights – Vukas Radonjic, Haris Šabotic and Romina Vlahovic. Of course, the leaders of the Police Directorate and the Ministry of Internal Affairs are also responsible, who did not find it necessary to ensure the detection and punishment of members of the Special Anti-Terrorist Unit (SAJ) who committed acts of torture. The Director of the Police Directorate at the time of the incident was Slavko Stojanovic (2013-2018), and then Veselin Veljovic, Zoran Brdjanin and Lazar Scepanovic, while the interior ministers were Rasko Konjević (2013-2016), Goran Danilović, Melvudin Nuhodžić, Sergej Sekulović, Filip Adžić and Danilo Šaranović", the announcement reads.
The unpunished members of the SAJ who hunted and tortured people that night are still officers of the Police Department today.
A severe defeat for the rule of law
The Human Rights Action stated that the prosecutor's decision is "a serious defeat for the rule of law in Montenegro."
"This is especially true when you consider that the torture of the people of Kolašin on the main road in Podgorica that same evening, also by members of the SAJ, also went unpunished. The investigation and torture of Milorad Mijo Martinović were particularly ineffective, regardless of the punishment of two SAJ members who took the blame for the torture that twenty of them carried out on Martinović, while also destroying his vehicle on Jovana Tomaševića Street," the statement reads.
HRA said that Montenegro must ensure effective investigations of torture if it wants to become a state with the rule of law and join the EU.
Bonus video:
