The Government's decisions on data protection should not apply to the members of the Parliamentary Inquiry Committee, which the parliamentary majority intends to form in order to deal with cases of politically motivated murders and attacks on journalists, said "Vijesti" interlocutors who believe that a deadline has been set for the work. of that body too short.
On the agenda of today's session of the Assembly is the Proposal for a decision on the opening of a parliamentary investigation and the formation of an Inquiry Committee in order to collect information and facts about the actions of state authorities and other entities in cases of politically motivated murders since the introduction of multi-party politics until today, as well as the circumstances of physical attacks and beatings of journalists and others free intellectuals from police officers known as "black threes"...
The proposal was submitted by the parliamentary clubs of the New Serbian Democracy, the Democratic People's Party (DNP), the Socialist People's Party and CIVIS, and it was also signed by the deputies of the Europe Now Movement and Democrats. The opposition Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), GP URA and Social Democrats, as well as the Bosniak Party, which is now part of the government, did not respond to Vijesti whether they would support the proposal.
"As the mentioned events remained unexplained, there is a justified suspicion that the work of the competent authorities, above all the then Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) of Montenegro and the State Security Service, as well as individuals from the top of these and other competent institutions, was illegal, considering to the fact that from the state of affairs and the publicly published statements of certain persons, there are indications that they did not undertake the measures, actions and activities that they were obliged to undertake by law, but on the contrary, that they used their position and influence to obstruct investigation, and all with the goal of not finding the perpetrators and the instigators of these events," the Proposal reads.
Attorney Nikola Angelovski notes that the Assembly's Inquiry Committee is a temporary body formed by the legislative power, for which the Government's decisions on the obligation to protect secrecy for specific cases should not be valid.
"Such a practice was in other countries," Angelovski told "Vijesta" in response to the question of whether MPs will be able to access secret data if the Inquiry Committee is formed.
The work of the committee, which includes conducting an investigation and submitting a report to the Assembly, is scheduled for 90 days, with a possible extension of the deadline for no longer than 15 days, the Proposal says.
Head of the Democrats Parliamentary Club Boris Bogdanovic believes that this deadline is too short.
"I consider the deadline for completing the Committee's work to be extremely short, especially considering the number and nature of the cases that could be under investigation. I expect the Inquiry Committee to consider several serious and complex cases, and each of them requires careful preparation, detailed verification of the facts and respect for all legal procedures," said Bogdanović.
He points out that according to Article 80 of the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly, the formation of the Inquiry Committee must be preceded by information from the Ministry of Justice - more precisely, the Assembly cannot form a committee before receiving an official confirmation from the Minister of Justice on whether court proceedings are being conducted regarding the facts that fall under the jurisdiction of the Inquiry Committee .
"This clearly emphasizes that the Inquiry Committee cannot take over the parliamentary investigation for cases that are already under judicial proceedings, in order to avoid legal and procedural violations, but also to enable a transparent and impartial investigation where possible," explained Bogdanović.
He said that according to the Data Secrecy Act, members of the Survey Committee have permission to access confidential data, based on the "need to know" principle.
"Our goal is clear - to ensure a responsible and legally founded investigation that will not jeopardize the integrity of the legal process, but will ensure that all persons and all instances are treated in accordance with the highest standards of legality and fairness," said Bogdanović.
President of the Assembly Andrija Mandic announced at the end of September that he would propose the formation of an inquiry committee that would deal with cases of beatings of the then MP and editor-in-chief of Dan, Duško Jovanović in 2000 (killed four years later), then Gojko Mitrović, Radovan Aleksić, Voja Laković, Mladen Stojović, Momir Vojvodić i Željko Ivanović, as well as cases of physical attacks and beatings of journalists and other free intellectuals by police officers known as the "black threes". Mandić also mentioned the case of the murder of the federal minister of defense Pavle Bulatović.
However, the Proposed Decision does not specify which cases will be dealt with by the Board of Inquiry.
Angelovski says that it is to be expected that this proposal will receive the necessary majority in the Montenegrin parliament, because it deals with cases of politically motivated murders, which "were many and all remained unsolved. In June, Angelovski submitted an initiative to sign a petition for the adoption of a law on the opening of files and documents of the civilian and military intelligence services of Montenegro, but not enough signatures (6.000) were collected.
He explains that, if the proposal passes and the Inquiry Committee is formed, the cases of settlement of state services with prominent individuals in Montenegro who were a hindrance to the then regime will be considered.
"That phenomenon is known in the public as the action of the 'black threes', which, according to what is known so far, were officers of the security sector and were in charge of carrying out brutal violence during which they inflicted physical injuries on the victims of the attack, and some victims liquidated. According to what is known, there were between 20 and 30 such cases", stated Angelovski.
The affair of the "black three" rocked Montenegro in 2013, when the former director of the Montenegrin police Veselin Veljović and the former head of the Administration for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions (UIKS) Miljan Perovic in the prosecution responded to the accusations of a former member of the Special Anti-Terrorist Unit (SAJ) Brajuško Brajušković.
Brajušković then said that Veljović was the organizer of the "black trios" that beat unfit journalists and opposition members and that he was the leader of one of the trios, explaining that the beating squad was coordinated by Miljan Perović. Veljović and Perović denied those claims, and the prosecution decided that there was no evidence against them.
Angelovski notes that the Board of Inquiry cannot perform investigative or other judicial actions, and everything established by the Board cannot constitute evidence in court proceedings.
He says that the Inquiry Committee has the right to take the necessary statements from individuals if the need arises, and since Montenegro was a joint state with Serbia until 2006, there may be a need to request certain data and information from the authorities in Serbia. .
In the explanation of the Proposal on the formation of the Inquiry Committee, it is stated that the decade-long problem of Montenegro, for which it has become regionally and internationally known, is cigarette smuggling, organized crime and politically motivated murders, "and for decades past, evidence of the involvement of the regime at that time surfaced publicly and regionally in Montenegro in this organized criminal activity, because of which the lives of not a small number of people ended in murder".
It is stated that with a parliamentary investigation, the Assembly would make an immeasurable contribution to the protection of the freedom of citizens, MPs and journalists.
The Assembly to determine whether the authorities hid the facts
The goal of the parliamentary investigation, as stated in Article 4 of the Proposal, is for the Assembly, based on the report of the Inquiry Committee, to assess whether the (in)action of competent state authorities and other subjects was the result of deliberate concealment of facts.
"After that, it is necessary to determine the possible existence of political responsibility of specific persons, and, ultimately, to initiate the procedures of possible criminal law and other responsibility with the competent authorities", the Proposal states. It is envisaged that the board will have a chairman, a deputy chairman and ten members.
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