The police closely monitor who criticizes the state and its officials on social networks, and citizens help them in this work.
Comments on events and people, mostly concerning events that are a consequence of the adoption of the Law on Freedom of Religion, and posted on Facebook, have cost several people detention and money in the last month.
"The police administration is helped to the greatest extent by conscientious citizens who submit controversial posts and statuses, which they see on social networks and online media portals. Also, a certain number of reports are submitted to the officers of the Police Administration by persons to whom threats have been directly addressed through social networks," the Police Administration's response reads. They previously said in a statement that they are watching what is published on social networks.
Milija Goranović from Nikšić was fined 500 euros at the end of January for calling police director Veselin Veljović a "fart".
The coordinator of the Alternativa party, Vesko Pejak, was suspected of inciting panic and riots due to a post on Facebook entitled "There will be war".
After the hearing, the judge ordered him to be detained for up to 72 hours, so he was released from custody the next day to defend himself.
Beranac MR was arrested at the end of January due to threatening messages he sent via social media to the commander of the Nikšić Security Center Police Station, Darko Mađarić. At that time, it was announced from the Police Directorate that MR had called for the liquidation of Mađarić and his family in a controversial comment.
In mid-January, NP (23) from Kotor was arrested on suspicion of threatening Adrijan Vuksanović, the president of the Croatian Civic Initiative (HGI) and a member of the Parliament of Montenegro, via a social network.
When asked by "Vijesti" who helps them monitor posts on social networks, the Police Administration replied that this is mostly done by citizens, while the National CIRT team (Directorate for Information Security and Response to Computer Incidents) removes controversial profiles and content that found on the Internet.
They stated that in their work so far, they have cooperated with the Ministry of Public Administration - CIRT team, in order to remove disputed profiles and content found on the Internet.
"The cooperation of these two institutions also refers to announcements/posts of inappropriate content that are qualified as criminal offenses by the competent prosecutors," the police state. Even the Digital Forensic Center (DFC), which, according to their website, is a project of the Atlantic Alliance of Montenegro, did not use the modern equipment that he presented earlier for these purposes.
The director of the Atlantic Alliance, Savo Kentera, told "Vijesti" that they share their research publicly with everyone and that anyone can use it, but that so far the police have not asked them for such research.
The Digital Forensic Center, as written on their website, exists with the aim of combating the problem of misinformation and fake news, as well as reducing the problem of digital and media (il)literacy through events, workshops and lectures that will raise awareness of these problems.
CIRT does not monitor posts, only removes them
The CIRT of the Ministry of Public Administration replied to "Vijesti" that monitoring posts on social networks is not within their competence and that there were no reports on this matter in the previous period.
"The National CIRT represents the central contact point at the national and international level for all computer security incidents in which one of the parties to the incident is located in Montenegro, that is, if it is in the domain or in the Montenegrin IP address space", it was clarified from the CIRT- a.
They state that they are taking measures to process incidents, react and coordinate in the event of incidents, prepare security warnings and advice for their users, and raise the level of awareness and educate users.
CIRT, as they state, is not in charge of operational problem solving and taking care of the security of individual systems, punishing problematic users, arbitrating disputes except at the official request of the competent state body and initiating criminal charges.
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