The Assembly removed the immunity of Bošković, Sekulić, Pribilović, Šehović and Brajović

The Assembly removed the immunity of the deputies of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) Predrag Bošković, Dragica Sekulić, Suzana Pribilović and the deputies of the Social Democrats of Montenegro Damir Šehović and Ivan Brajović due to suspicion that they abused their official position.

There was no discussion, because there were no deputies in the hall to whom the request for the removal of immunity refers.

The opposition is boycotting the work of the parliament after the president of the country, Milo Đukanović, issued a decree on the dissolution of the Assembly on March 16.

42 MPs voted for the removal of the immunity of the group of MPs, including Dragica Anđelić, MP from the opposition SDP.

DF MP Slaven Radunović reminded that the Parliament had once received a proposal to remove the immunity and enable detention for MPs Milan Knežević and Andrija Mandić.

"On one occasion, this Assembly voted to detain people... After that, a thematic session on immunity was held and the Administrative Committee made five conclusions," stated Radunović.

The conclusions refer to who enjoys immunity, that it cannot be limited temporally or territorially during the term of office, criminal proceedings cannot be initiated against a member of parliament or custody ordered before the Parliament approves the initiation of criminal proceedings and custody and that these are two separate legal actions, on which the Assembly declares itself separately.

The President of the Assembly, Danijela Đurović, said that today they are deciding on only one request, the removal of immunity.

Earlier today, Đurović read the request of the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) to lift the immunity of Bošković, Pribilović and Sekulić, as well as Brajović and Šehović.

She reminded that on December 22, the Administrative Board unanimously proposed authorization for criminal prosecution.

"What was agreed upon was that the MPs who are subject to these acts and their colleagues were unanimous in reaching decisions on the removal of immunity. The very important moment was the possibility that our colleagues, who are treated by these acts, would have the opportunity to declare themselves in the Assembly according to the statements of SDT and the Government," said Đurović.

She reminded that at the end of the fall session at the end of December, they discussed at the collegium whether and when this would be on the agenda.

She explained that the MPs, to whom SDT's request refers, asked to be allowed to be present in the hall, but due to their obligations, they could not attend at the end of December.

"At the Collegium, we agreed that this should not be dealt with in the extraordinary session, nor in the first session of the spring session, so this point was left for the second session of the regular spring session... What I regret is the situation that colleagues from the opposition ranks, primarily due to political decisions to boycott the parliament, are not here in the hall today. I regret for them and their inability to use the right to say in front of the public what they think they should. That is why we will stay at the level of technical details of this agenda item," said the President of the Assembly.

After forming a case based on the Government's criminal complaint in December last year, the SDT asked the Assembly to lift the immunity of DPS MPs Predrag Bošković, Suzana Pribilović and Dragica Sekulić, as well as Ivan Brajović and Damir Šehović from the SD.

In addition to them, the investigation includes former ministers Budimir Šegrt (DPS), Suad Numanović (DPS), Sanja Vlahović (DPS) and Osman Nurković (BS), former head of the president's cabinet and former consul in Sremski Karlovci Dražen Miličković, former secretary general of the Assembly Aleksandar Jovićević (SD), and former assistant general secretary Jelena Radonjić. Immunity does not protect them from criminal prosecution.

The SDT established that there is an appropriate level of suspicion that the former members of the Government Commission from 2016 to 2020 committed a prolonged criminal offense of abuse of official position, in that Bošković as president and the others as members made decisions on solving the housing needs of officials contrary to regulations and thus obtained a material benefit for others that exceeds 30.000 euros.