The MUP asked Serbia about Mandić's citizenship

The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) of Montenegro requested information from its colleagues from Serbia about when and how the leader of the New Serbian Democracy (Nova) Andrija Mandic obtained the citizenship of that country.

This was announced to "Vijesta" yesterday by the Acting General Director of the Directorate for Administrative Affairs, Citizenship and Foreigners of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Radovan Popovic.

"After obtaining the requested information, this ministry will make a decision based on the law in the procedure for the loss of Montenegrin citizenship under the force of law, initiated ex officio," he said.

This means that now on the move of the Ministry of Interior of Serbia, which in February, on the eve of the Day of Serbian Statehood, delivered to the Montenegrin State Election Commission (DIK) the information that the leader of the Europe Now Movement (PES) Milojko Spajic resides in Belgrade. This information, not long after, since it was established that Spajić also has Serbian citizenship, was the reason for his disqualification from the race for the position of head of state.

In April, Mandić submitted official information from Belgrade to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which states what recommended him to obtain Serbian citizenship, but it does not contain information on when he acquired it. This is why the MUP decided to turn to Serbia.

The department unofficially told "Vijesti" that they are not optimistic about getting a response from Serbia, because, as the source said, the neighboring country has so far refused to cooperate on this issue.

The source also explained that the competent authorities of Serbia, according to the country's citizenship law, are not obliged to provide the requested data without the consent of the person to whom the request refers.

According to the Law on Montenegrin Citizenship, a person, in addition to the Montenegrin citizenship, can have the citizenship of another country if he acquired it before the declaration of independence of Montenegro on June 3, 2006, or if there is a bilateral agreement with the other country. Montenegro does not have such an agreement with Serbia.

The issue of dual citizenship became topical at the beginning of February, when the SEC sent an inquiry to colleagues from Serbia about Mandić and Spajić.

In April, Mandić sent the Ministry of Interior an official document from Serbia, in which it is written that he met the conditions for acquiring the citizenship of that country based on the performance of his duties in the Government of the FRY. Through his proxy, he submitted the document and a statement in which he says that he agrees with everything written in it.

In the document, as "Vijesti" published, it is written that Mandić met the conditions for obtaining the citizenship of the neighboring country because from 1999 to 2000 he held the "significant state position of Deputy Federal Minister in the Government of the FRY". He was the deputy federal minister of economy Milan Bek, in the reconstructed Government Momir Bulatović.

"Vijesti" previously had access to a document indicating that Mandić received Serbian citizenship in 2009.

Nova's leader announced at the beginning of March that, in addition to Montenegrin, he also has Serbian citizenship, and that he obtained it legally, but he did not want to say when.

He stated in the show Načisto on TV Vijesti that he has Serbian citizenship, which is "in full compliance with the regulations of the former state union of Serbia and Montenegro, the Constitution of Montenegro and applicable laws, the Constitution of Serbia and applicable laws."

When asked if the citizenship was acquired before 2006, he answered: "Let me announce something when I go (to the MUP)." He added that he never had a residence, identity card and passport of Serbia, nor was he entered in their voter list.

In 2007, Mandic announced that he would seek Serbian citizenship, saying that he would talk about it when he received it.

Four years later, he declared that he would never renounce his Serbian citizenship, and that he called on all Montenegrin citizens who have a Serbian passport to do the same.

"I encourage every citizen of Montenegro to take the citizenship of Serbia and not to be afraid, and there is no need to inform the authorities in Montenegro about those relations", he said then, adding that the Government of Serbia, in the Law on Citizenship from 2007, provided that with the relations of that country and its citizens should not be known to a third party.

Spajić has not yet submitted proof of dismissal from Serbian citizenship

Popović told "Vijesta" that the head of the PES, Spajić, submitted a confirmation from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia dated February 14 about the submitted request for dismissal from the citizenship of that country, but that until yesterday he had not submitted proof of dismissal from that citizenship to the Montenegrin Ministry of Internal Affairs.

"The Ministry of Internal Affairs applies national regulations in the field of citizenship, harmonized with international regulations, which are binding and contain basic principles on preventing statelessness, regarding the deadlines for decision-making in procedures for acquiring and losing Montenegrin citizenship," he pointed out.

Given that the procedure for revoking Spajić's Montenegrin citizenship was initiated in February and has been going on for a year, the head of the PES still has eight months to submit to the Montenegrin institutions proof of his dismissal from Serbian citizenship.

"Vijesti" was recently confirmed by PES that Spajić received the letter in May.