The Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) and the Social Democrats (SD) are expected to submit to the Parliament today an initiative to dismiss its leader Andrija Mandić (New Serbian Democracy - NSD), whom they hold responsible, among other things, for the potential misuse of the parliament's official vehicle on the night when Danilo Mandić, the nephew and informal bodyguard of the first man in the legislative house, allegedly wounded two people in Podgorica.
A source from DPS confirmed this to "Vijesti", saying that they sent the initiative to colleagues from the rest of the opposition for signature last night.
He, however, said that the case of possible misuse of the Parliament's official car, or the possible transfer of its resources to persons of security interest (BIL), is not the only reason why they are demanding Mandić's dismissal. He states that since the constitution of the current parliament, the integrity of that institution has been "deliberately undermined", and that Mandić is most responsible for this, but also for "abolishing its control role", "implementing nationalist and anti-European policies", and "disrupting the painstakingly built policy of relations with neighbors".
"In less than two years of his mandate, dozens of reasons have accumulated to once again formally question the responsibility of the President of the Assembly," said the interlocutor, recalling that among these reasons, in addition to the ones mentioned, are Mandić's recent visit to the President of Republika Srpska (RS) Milorad Dodik after the verdict of the Court of BiH that he had not implemented the decisions of the UN High Representative, and the "keeping in a drawer" the urgent request of the Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica to lift the immunity of the NSD MP and the first man of Nikšić, Marko Kovačević.
The Podgorica Basic Prosecutor's Office told "Vijesti" on Tuesday that they are collecting information from the relevant state authorities on whether the official vehicle of the legislative chamber was misused on the night when Danilo Mandić allegedly wounded two people in the capital, after which hearings on the matter should begin. The prosecutor's office opened a case ex officio at the end of April due to the potential misuse of the official vehicle.
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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 Parliament, 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 one month on April 21.
Although Danilo Mandić's legal representative claimed that his client was charged with attempted murder solely on the basis of the statements of the two injured parties, they denied during the hearing at the Higher Prosecutor's Office that he had shot them and did not join the criminal prosecution. Perović testified at the hearing on April 23 that Mandić had not shot him, and also claimed that he had been threatened and blackmailed by the police to accuse the nephew of the speaker of parliament of the wounding. The police therefore filed criminal charges against him.
According to the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament, a motion to dismiss the president must be signed by at least ten MPs. Given that DPS has 17, it means that they have enough signatures to initiate the motion. If it is on the agenda and voted on, the removal of Mandić would require 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 house should not resign due to 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 (BS) for their initiative, which has already voted for Mandić's dismissal, would not have enough support to "overthrow" 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 for Mandić's dismissal, that would again not be close to the majority needed for dismissal - they would have 35 votes in favor.
On April 24, the DPS, SD and GP URA submitted an initiative to the parliamentary Committee on Security and Defense for a control hearing of the Supreme State Prosecutor Milorad Marković and the acting director of the Police Administration Lazar Šćepanović. In the initiative, they state that the way the authorities reacted in the case of Danilo Mandić raises concerns and doubts about the legality and impartiality of their actions.
The Parliament and Andrija Mandić are still not responding to questions from “Vijesti” regarding the vehicle allegedly driven by Danilo Mandić on April 19, which is being taken to that institution. The Speaker of the Legislative Chamber announced on April 30 that he had not made any public statements so that no one would have a reason to say that he was putting pressure on the authorities, saying that this is “some kind of new Montenegro”, and that “no one in it can be exempted from the application of legal punishment, provided that he is truly guilty”.
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Already "survived" the impeachment vote once
Andrija Mandić "survived" the vote on his dismissal at the beginning of March last year, which was also initiated by the DPS.
That party then claimed that Mandić was unworthy of office, among other things because he "never provided evidence that he was in legal possession of Montenegrin citizenship."
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