Koprivica: No one will stop us from carrying out the supervisory and control role

Parliamentary committees are obliged to point out all the anomalies in the actions of the authorities, said Democratic deputy and chairman of the Committee for Political System, Judiciary and Administration Momo Koprivica, and said that no one will stop them from carrying out their supervisory and control role.

At a press conference on the topic of protecting system institutions from criminal structures, he said that without the truth there is neither justice nor responsibility and that they are a prerequisite for the rule of law.

"If the state according to the Constitution rests on the rule of law, who has a greater obligation to ensure the rule of law than the Assembly? Committees are obliged to point out all anomalies in the actions of authorities, because the public has the right to know everything," Koprivica pointed out.

He said that no one will stop them from carrying out their supervisory and control role, because that is the only way to get to the truth.

"We want to raise our voice against the anti-constitutional, anti-democratic and criminal attack on the Parliament and its working bodies, which want to call into question the basic functions and our determination to find out the truth about the actions of the authorities that are accountable to the Parliament of Montenegro," Koprivica said. .

He added that, according to the Constitution, the relationship between the branches of government rests on balance and mutual control.

As he said, in accordance with that constitutional provision, parliamentary committees carry out control and supervisory functions.

"When, after the famous session of the Committee for the Political System, Judiciary and Administration, where institutional wrongdoing was exposed in connection with the lifting of the entry ban on Veljko Belivuk and Marko Miljković, I had the opportunity to read the accusations against the Committee the very next morning, I thought that they were some isolated incidents, reflexes of that captured judiciary," said Koprivica.

However, as he stated, unconstitutional attacks continued "until yesterday's culmination, when we had the opportunity to see the press conference of former assistant police director Zoran Lazović and his lawyer Zoran Piperović".

"It is a sort of desperate attempt, but bearing in mind the continuity in terms of attacks on the Assembly, I would say that it is now quite clear that this structure is acting in an organized manner and joining together for the purpose of unconstitutional activity," said Koprivica.

According to him, the stage is the association of former officials connected with criminal structures, captured parts of the judiciary, captured parts of the police structures in the attacks on the Assembly, because the Assembly and its working bodies are no longer a "fig leaf" to hide institutional inaction, crime and corruption.

"The Assembly and its working bodies, and especially these three committees that we preside over, are no longer a key to the machinery, but proactive institutions that put truth, justice and constitutionality first," emphasized Koprivica.

He said that on September 9, 2021, before the criminal charges were filed against the persons responsible for lifting the entry ban on Miljković and Belivuk, the Committee for the Political System, Judiciary and Administration put in its work program an examination of the actions of the authorities in that case.

"Every country where criminals have the courage to attack the Parliament must ask themselves if they have a real system of protection against crime and corruption," said Koprivica.

According to him, a state that cannot protect its most important institutions would show weakness, but also its inability to protect society and citizens.

"When criminals try to destabilize institutions and threaten their integrity, it is not only an attack on the state and legal order, but also on the moral and civilizational foundations of a society," said Koprivica.

He stated that the attack by criminals on the Assembly is a serious attack on the foundations of both the state and democracy, and that this requires a decisive reaction from institutions and the restoration of the security system in order to preserve the rule of law and democracy.

Koprivica said that, in relation to what Lazović presented at the press conference, several things can be concluded.

"First, it is true that he has not been an official of the National Security Agency for some time, but it is true that there is his informal influence on that part of the security system and that it has existed all these years," stated Koprivica.

As he said, "precisely thanks to informal influences on the security structures, we have a situation where high-ranking officials in those structures are arrested because of their connection with crime."

"Secondly, people who allow crime to rampage in Montenegro, for it to strengthen to the point of governing Montenegro, do not wish anything good for Montenegro or its security system," said Koprivica.

These, he added, are the greatest enemies of Montenegro.

Koprivica said that the question arises as to how the police structures professionally perform their work at the celebration of a person of security interest for whom the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) has evidence from Europol that he is part of organized crime months before.

"Then, it is truly an incredible coincidence that one of the Lazovićs is always a regular guest at the celebrations of criminal structures, starting with Safet Kalić's wedding, and ending with Radoj Zvicer's grandmother's party," said Koprivica.

As he stated, these are no coincidences.

"Instead of making tirades in relation to the Assembly and its working bodies, we should respond in relation to what he stated at the press conference in 2021 when he said that there is no need to fear the presence of Belivuk and Miljković because the police are keeping an eye on them 24 hours a day," said Koprivica.

He said that he is proud that the Committee for the Political System, Judiciary and Administration is part of the institutions that unravel the tangle of the criminal octopus.

"Instead of attacking the Assembly, they should answer clear questions about how Belivuk and Miljković went to Montenegro and knew that their entry ban had been lifted," said Koprivica.

He asked how they went to Montenegro without even filing an appeal against the decision on the ban on entry, and how it is possible that there is no documentation regarding the lifting of the ban.

"These are three key questions to which these desperate people have no answers, but that's why they know that they should attack the Parliament because it and the parliamentary committees are fighting for truth and responsibility," said Koprivica.

He said that he sent a letter to the head of the Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica to provide him with all the files from that case.

"The very next day, on April 13, I received a reply from Milanović in which he says that a request from the SDT for the delivery of these items was submitted a little before my request, so that these files are now in the SDT", stated Koprivica.

He added that this fact makes him happy because it speaks of the proactive failure of the SDT, which works and acts according to the Constitution and the law and does not wait when it comes to prosecuting criminal offenses.