The Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) will submit an initiative after the May Day holidays to remove the Speaker of the Parliament Andrija Mandić, due to an alleged incident involving his nephew and informal member of his security, Danilo Mandić, using a parliamentary vehicle.
This was unofficially told to ''Vijesti'' by the DPS. As explained by the strongest opposition party, their initiative, which they announced a week ago, will predominantly concern the responsibility of the head of parliament, ''who hired a person of interest (BIL) as a member of his security and gave him the official car of the Parliament in which the criminal act was committed''.
The Social Democrats (SD) also announced an initiative to remove Mandić, but because they do not have enough MPs to do so, they will submit it together with the DPS.
According to the Parliament's Rules of Procedure, a motion to dismiss the speaker must be signed by at least ten MPs. SD has three, and DPS has 17, meaning they will have enough signatures to initiate the motion. If it is on the agenda and voted on, the removal of the speaker of parliament requires the support of a majority of the total number of MPs, at least 41.
However, most of the ruling parties have said that the first man in the legislative chamber should not resign over a case of potential misuse of state property, which means that they will not vote for his removal.
DPS and SD, even if they were to receive the support of the ruling Bosniak Party, which has already voted to dismiss Mandić, would not have enough support to dismiss him. BS has six MPs, the Civic Movement (GP) URA has four, and the Democratic Union of Albanians and the Croatian Civic Initiative have one each, which makes a total of 32 with DPS and SD. If they were to be joined by two independent MPs, Jevrosima Pejović and Radinka Ćinćur, and Force MP Ilir Čapuni, who recently told "Vijesti" that he would vote to dismiss Mandić, that would again not be close to the majority needed for dismissal (they would have 35 votes in favor).
The Parliament and Andrija Mandić are still silent about the incident that happened about ten days ago and are not answering questions from "Vijesti". It was almost never discussed at the sessions of the Parliament either.
The Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica suspects Danilo Mandić of wounding Darko Perović and Aris Turković in the capital on April 19. The Police Department claims that Mandić blocked the path of Perović and Turković with the official vehicle of the Legislative Chamber, a Range Rover jeep, and fired "several shots at them, from which the injured parties sustained injuries in the leg area"... A judge at the Podgorica Higher Court ordered Mandić to be detained for up to 30 days.
Although Danilo Mandić's legal representative claimed that his client was charged with attempted murder solely based on the statements of the two injured parties, during the hearing at the Higher State Prosecutor's Office (VDT), they denied that he shot at them and did not join the criminal prosecution.
Perović testified at a hearing at the Higher State Prosecutor's Office on April 23 that Danilo Mandić did not shoot him, and also claimed that he had suffered threats and blackmail from the police to accuse Mandić of wounding him. The police therefore filed criminal charges against him on Monday.
The Podgorica Basic Prosecutor's Office, as previously told ''Vijesti'', is investigating whether Danilo Mandić misused an official parliamentary vehicle on the night he allegedly injured two people in Podgorica.
On April 24, DPS, SD and GP URA filed an initiative for a control hearing of Supreme State Prosecutor Milorad Marković and Director of the Police Administration Lazar Šćepanović regarding the case of Mandić's nephew. In the initiative, they state that the way the authorities reacted in this case raises concerns and doubts about the legality and impartiality of their actions.
They believe that it is necessary to "establish all the facts and circumstances regarding the attempted aggravated murder", i.e. how the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office qualified the act, whether there was any attempt to conceal evidence or remove traces, "with the aim of illegally facilitating the suspect's position in the upcoming criminal proceedings".
"This hearing is crucial for preserving citizens' trust in the institutions of the system and strengthening the rule of law," the initiative states.
The DPS previously said that in any democratic country, the speaker of parliament "in these circumstances" would immediately resign, not because he is legally obligated to, but because he knows that "after such events, he is morally unworthy to continue performing his duties."
The NGO Center for Democratic Transition (CDT) called on the Prosecutorial Council to use its legal powers and review the actions of the competent prosecutors' offices in the case of Danilo Mandić.
"The case has aroused great public interest, and additional concern is caused by numerous contradictory information that has been announced in recent days by representatives of the prosecutor's office, police and defense, including uncertainties about the investigation, forensics, the use of an official vehicle and the timeliness of the response. Public attention is further heightened by the fact that the suspect is a close associate and relative of one of the highest state officials," they said.
The CDT says that the urgent and transparent response of the Prosecutorial Council is crucial for maintaining citizens' trust in the work of judicial institutions.
Živković: PES is burying its head in the sand, Mandić is laughing
DPS President Danijel Živković said yesterday at a parliamentary session that the strongest ruling party, the Europe Now Movement (PES), is "burying its head in the sand" when it comes to Andrija Mandić and his New Serbian Democracy (NSD).
During the discussion on a set of laws in the field of education and scientific research, he asked the Minister of Education, Science and Innovation, Anđela Jakšić Stojanović, whether she, as a member of the PES Presidency and coordinator of the party's political activities for Nikšić, would support Marko Kovačević (NSD) for the mayor of the Municipality of Nikšić.
The minister did not respond.
"This is classic Peskovian, burying your head in the sand in the face of the fact that in the Municipality of Nikšić you have a Mayor who says that 'this is not the state of Montenegro', 'these are not its symbols', 'I don't care, this is not my home town... and of course PES will support me', who presents himself as an allegedly pro-European and civic political entity... This silence has led you to Andrija Mandić laughing in your face. Because he brought the political entity from 25 percent to 10, and he went from 13 to 26 percent," said Živković.
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