This concludes the first item, while the second is titled "miscellaneous".
At the next session, MPs will discuss the case of Dragan Bracanović, who addressed the committee to have his case discussed as well.
Knežević proposed that police official Milan Paunović be invited to the next session, and that the methodology be the same as today, because they do not know what cases there is information about.
With a majority of votes in favor, this item was adopted.
The session is over.
Leković added that Marković did not say who could know the information about murders and attacks, but that with the help of the law, one can understand who could.
"I have fulfilled my civic and professional duty and no one can change that," Marković emphasized.
Marković pointed out that the issue had moved beyond thematic issues and into political qualifications, and that he would request audio recordings because he was a witness to "manipulations and misinterpretations of what he said."
"ANB collects information, stores it, analyzes it for use by institutions. This information is delivered to users - the president, parliament, police and the ministry of tourism if it concerns that area, and so on," he explained.
He addressed claims that the state was the organizer of the smuggling, saying that in fact "the environment created the conditions for the smuggling of individuals."
"You probably bought gasoline not at the gas station, but from someone in a can and didn't pay VAT," he said, adding that "the state didn't force anyone to be in the mafia."
Marković denied claims that he met with Duško Jovanović in Tološi or his office.
"No director of the service talks about documents. I am the only director who respected that in independent Montenegro. It is available to dozens of people and it can be yours. You provide it and you will see what is written there," he pointed out.
Knežević pointed out that the discussion was constructive, and that the information he has from Jovanović's associates indicates that he had several meetings with Marković.
"I don't think you shot Jovanović or anyone else, but I claim that you have all the information about it. You have now announced that you will protect the service and I congratulate you on that. You gave us the opportunity to call Milo Đukanović and Ranko Krivokapić," he said.
"Let's not put the story that you were a cameo actor, because when history is written, you will have a paragraph," the DNP leader emphasized.
Nikolić announced that he did not hear anything new at the Committee, but also that Montenegro must thank wise politics for "suffering less than Serbia" during the bombing.
"As for the murders, there is evidence that murders like those of Ćuruvija and Stambolic were ordered by the state. The civil society in Serbia was hiding in Montenegro at the time. I would like to hear from you about that, Mr. Marković," he said.
As he added, there was bidding on certain murders ahead of the referendum.
"I would never allow myself to construct an indictment without material evidence. The families of those people are probably watching this," he pointed out.
"We are obliged to provide an atmosphere for institutions to do their job. Because some of us are not satisfied with Mr. Marković's answers, so we are constructing his role or that of one of his colleagues in these processes. I think that is also insufficiently cautious formulation of positions at this moment," he said.
Nikolić pointed out that proof of the vulnerability of Đukanović and Marković is that many opponents of the regime on the opposing side ended up in prison.
Knežević assessed that Marković's response was "the law of silence" and recalled that as an MP he laughed at Slavko Perović while he was talking about an independent Montenegro, and today he justifies everything with that goal.
"Since you provided one important piece of information - that Dušan Spasojević and Mile Luković had ANB ID cards, I conclude that the ANB organized the murder of Đinđić: the Zemun clan was convicted, had verdicts, and they also participated in the October 5th changes. This turns the narrative around that a big Serbia threatens a small Montenegro," he said.
He added that in 1999, Đukanović accepted a state of emergency, and that Marković used it to create a police state in which "senior ANB officials were members of the Zemun clan."
Knežević emphasized that he would propose that Slaviša Šćekić be heard by the Committee.
"We come to Duško Jovanović. It is not true that you had one meeting and that it was at the FK 'Mladost' stadium. Before that, you had a meeting in your office where Jovanović asked to talk to you, not because he is selling the newspaper, but because he feels threatened, and where he warned his associates to be prepared if something happens to him in the form of an arrest or attack. It is completely illogical for Jovanović to ask you to sell the newspaper to you because at that time there was an offer from Mr. Hombach's group to buy 'Dan'. Why would he come to you to sell him the newspaper when he has an offer. You must have suggested to him that he sell the newspaper, because if he had sold it, he might be alive today, but he decided not to sell it and continue publishing articles from 'Nacional'," said the DNP leader.
As he added, Jovanović contacted Jovićević after he was not satisfied with the conversation with Marković, and said that the former head of the ANB did not call him about dynamite, but about "more subtle" texts.
"Also, you had a meeting in Tološi with Mr. Jovanović and then you suggested to him that he sell the newspaper," he pointed out.
Referring to Marković's statement that "some individuals are themselves to blame for their own deaths", Knežević pointed out that the former head of the ANB behaves like a "pious adherent of omerta".
Vučurović stated that Marković was equally responsible as Đukanović, and that today one could hear that smuggling tobacco, oil and medicines was a "state job" in order to "feed the people."
As he added, Đukanović once stated that he did not know about the so-called Seventh Administration, and Marković today confirmed its existence.
He asked the former head of the ANB whether the car used in the murder of Jovanović was used by the Ministry of the Interior and who used it.
Huter said that people from the Prosecutor's Office and the judiciary should have been asked, and only then called Marković.
Božović pointed out that the SNP separated from the DPS due to different views on a united state, but also due to its rejection of criminal activities.
"It is clear that the state has failed if someone's security has been threatened for a long period of time, and they have done nothing. Well, we heard that the murder weapon came from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. You said that you proposed that Jovanović be assigned security," he pointed out, adding that regional media also wrote about cigarette smuggling, and that Croatian journalist Ivo Pukanić was killed because of it.
Leković told Marković that "they wanted to help him, but he would not accept that help."
"What do you know, and what do those you said knew the same as you? What does this man know? You say you prevented bloodshed. During your service, there were 284 murders...", he said. "You are not a black box, but a black book where all those killed and beaten are listed," Leković pointed out.
He noted that the Committee showed a key point - that Marković does not want to talk about cases he knows about.
Civic Movement (GP) URA MP Filip Adžić assessed that Duško Marković wanted to talk about the murders, he would have done so if he had the opportunity and courage, but that something else was at stake.
"On the eve of Independence Day, I must congratulate Mr. Marković on his contribution, to congratulate that part of the departure from the policy of Milošević (Slobodan, former president of Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) that occurred, but out of respect for the victims and their victims, it is not correct to say that it was a departure from Greater Serbia policy, considering that among the victims we also have those who declared themselves as Serbs, but also as Bosniaks, Montenegrins...", Adžić pointed out.
He added that today, when there is a shortage of police officers and when the police are compromised, murders are being solved, while many of those from back then are still unsolved, and that the state is probably behind this.
"We know in the example of the Jovanović murder that the evidence sent to Wiesbaden was probably falsified, which no criminal group could have done," Adžić said.
The President of the Inquiry Committee, Andrija Nikolić (DPS), assessed that there were incidents in the security sector, but that part of the reason was "the environment was the way it was."
"I absolutely have an interest in the fact that, if something new can be learned, the address is institutional. Whoever has new information, let them report it to the institutions. The judiciary and the prosecution are free. If you have concrete evidence, go to the judiciary and the prosecution," Nikolić told Adžić.
Adžić said that it is unfair to say that we are talking about Jovanović, Tufik Softić, Slavoljub Šćekić, Srđan Vojičić, Jevrem Brković... and that it is not correct to say that they were killed "because someone fought for an independent Montenegro."
Marković pointed out that he answered every question, to which Adžić stated that no one from the Committee would come out with information they did not have.
When asked about the murders of Darko Beli Raspopović, Goran Žugić, Miloš Krstović, Blagota Baja Sekulić and Mladen Klikovac, Marković stated that some of their information suggests that intelligence and criminal circles from Serbia and Republika Srpska are behind it, but that he does not know the motives.
"I also remember that I spoke at the funeral of the late Raspopović," he emphasized.
Responding to questions from Committee President Andrija Nikolić, Marković said that when Montenegro began its path towards independence, they were exposed to criminal threats, and that there was no cooperation until 2005, when the BIA was formed, and that communication existed in 1999 during crisis situations.
Nikolić asked Marković - "bearing in mind that in 1997 and 1998 there was a political turn of the Montenegrin leadership in relation to Milošević, what was the cooperation between the Montenegrin SDB and the Serbian one?", as well as "do you exclude the possibility that some criminal acts in Montenegro were carried out by the Serbian security services. Also, did anyone from politics ask the ANB for something outside the constitutional framework within which the Montenegrin SDB intelligence service operated?"
Responding to questions from MP and President of the Democratic People's Party (DNP) Milan Knežević, Marković said that he was not the only owner of the information, but that he could not answer who collected all the information, and that there was an entire system in which thousands of employees were employed.
He pointed out that he did not know who ordered the murder of Predrag Šuković, but that he had information that something big would happen on the eve of his appointment as Prime Minister.
Speaking about the claims that he was guilty of the murder of the editor of the daily newspaper "Dan" Duško Jovanović, he said that the claims in the shows were "nonsense".
Knežević added that Marković said in a show that the attempted assassination of Šuković harmed him politically.
"I'm not saying that it's relevant and reliable, but all the circumstances are intriguing," said Marković.
He pointed out that he was a great friend of Jovanović during the time of the unified DPS, and that they never had a misunderstanding, but that politics took them on two sides, and that their first communication after the split was when it was published in "Dan" that Marković was fishing for trout in Crno Jezero with dynamite.
"Our second meeting was at his invitation. He didn't want to be in the office, and I was the director of FC 'Mladost' at the time, and we met in the stadium restaurant. He told me that the reason for his call was to tell me that he wanted to sell the property and to ask me if I knew anyone who wanted to buy the property of 'Dan'... I didn't recommend that he sell 'Dan', but he asked me if I knew anyone who wanted to buy it," he said.
Marković denied having had meetings with members of the Zemun Clan, Mile Luković and Dušan Spasojević.
Duško Marković said that he had also heard that the rifle used to shoot the editor of the daily "Dan" Duško Jovanović was from the National Security Agency (ANB) depot, but that he did not have that information.
Responding to a question from SNP MP Bogdan Božović, he said that he remembered that Jovanović announced in "Dan" that his (Jovanović's) security was threatened, and that he suspected that the SDB was behind this threat, and that he had spoken about it with the then Minister of Interior Andrija Jovićević, who told him that he was in contact with the Jovanović family.
Marković said that he did not remember any information about the company 'NTT', which was owned by the Ministry of Interior and which was allegedly involved in cigarette smuggling, and added that they were dealing with more important issues - how to prevent war in Montenegro.
Marković also pointed out that the context is constantly imposed on him that he stated that he would "expelled Serbs", even though he did not say that, and that his family lives in Serbia.
He told the leader and MP of the Democratic People's Party (DNP) Milan Knežević that he had been "in more serious places in Russia than he was." Referring to the questions of the MP of the Democratic Montenegro Momčilo Leković - "When you said that if the security service organized an assassination, there would be no survivors, did you imply that the service you lead has the capacity to organize a liquidation?", Marković said that this referred to the alleged attempt to assassinate the president of the Liberal Party (Miodrag Živković), and that the informal conversation was transmitted as a statement.
"I sued the then Publika for inserting it as a sentence and received a verdict of 7.000 euros," he said.
Duško Marković told New Serbian Democracy (NSD) MP Jovan Vučurović that he (Marković) did contribute to the establishment of the rule of law, and that EU integration began when he was Minister of Justice.
"You asked me directly about the murder of Goran Žugić. I do not know Mr. Stanjević, nor have I been able to see that documentation. Your question is whether I had contact with people from the Italian mafia. Never. Neither domestic nor Italian... Those structures did not have the opportunity to approach me, and today that fact surprises many, and that I am not involved in various affairs of criminal networks, because I did not let the mafia members approach me, but they were the target of the services I headed," he said.
Speaking about the murder of the editor of the daily newspaper "Dan" Duško Jovanović, Marković stated that there are allegations of obstruction of the investigation by people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP), but that he is not aware of this.
"Today, the prosecution and the police are free from pressure from the former government and there are no obstacles to revealing such information and people," Marković said.
Reflecting on his appearances on the show, he said that he assumed the initials DM referred to him, but that he didn't know what he was doing, and that he wasn't nervous about it.
"The Seventh Directorate, it existed when I arrived. I can remember a few people who were in it. I know that the late Raspopović, Slaviša Šćekić, I think it was Golubović. It was counter-terrorist and tied to the minister," he said.
Duško Marković said that he came to contribute to the work of the committee, not as a man of authority, and that he had no dilemma about whether to appear.
He pointed out that some of the questions deserve a serious answer, while he characterized some as "speculation".
"I joined the SDB in October 1998. It was a service within the unified Ministry of the Interior and I was the head of that service, not a senior officer. According to the law at the time, that was the Minister of the Interior. Members of the service had police powers, but they did not use them, but that identification card served as a way of recognition and protection in the system," he said, adding that he did not have the ability to hire and deploy within the service, but the Minister of the Interior had to do that.
He pointed out that this was a period when state policy was changing, and decisions were being made about state status, but also that Montenegro was exposed to political and intelligence pressure to prevent the path to independence.
As he added, in 1999 Montenegro had to increase the number of police officers from 3.000 to 20.000.
"Most often, the show features guests who have never contributed anything to the state, not to security. Who knew nothing at the time, but today know who and where they were... If someone knows that a representative of the security service did something, those people have a name and surname and should be reported to the competent institutions. That's what professionals and honorable people do, and these are gossipers," he pointed out.
Marković stated that the sanctions against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) were unfair, but that they impoverished Montenegro, which is why people turned to smuggling cigarettes, medicines, oil...
"It wasn't just those on the other side of the government who were threatened, but also the government itself... I wore a bulletproof vest at the time because that was a security assessment, and in 1999 the most threatened person in the Balkans was Mr. Đukanović (Milo, former Prime Minister, President of Montenegro and leader of the DPS)," Marković pointed out.
The President of the Inquiry Committee, Andrija Nikolić, pointed out that the formation of the committee is an expression of the powerlessness of the majority, and that the Inquiry Committee is a strong parliamentary instrument of the opposition when institutions are unable to provide answers.
"If there is political will to ensure the process of reaching the truth, then we know what the addresses are - and those are the institutions of the system. They offered them. The actors who receive them may be dissatisfied with some of the answers, and some remain incomplete. But that is the job of the institutions. The job of politics is to provide a good environment for the institutions," he assessed.
Nikolić said it was good that Marković appeared and noted that he was the head of the SDB in the 90s and reminded people of "how difficult those times were."
"It was important that the war did not spread to Montenegro. Bearing in mind that in 1997 and 1998 the Montenegrin leadership was undergoing a political shift in relation to Milošević, what is the cooperation between the Montenegrin SDB and the Serbian one? Secondly, do you exclude the possibility that some criminal acts in Montenegro were carried out by Serbian security services. Also, did anyone from politics ask the ANB for something outside the constitutional framework within which the Montenegrin SDB intelligence service operated?" Nikolić asked Marković.
United Montenegro MP Vladimri Dobricanin said that the Committee should have held thematic sessions on specific cases.
He added that he had no questions because his colleagues had asked everything he wanted to ask, but that it was unclear to him how, after 19 years, there was no other defendant in the Jovanović case.
The Chairman of the Committee, Andrija Nikolić, said that he was glad that "there is no drastic difference in who is chairing - he or Dobricanin" and pointed out that his proposal was also to lead the Committee in this way.
The Dorbičanin replied that perhaps it was a good thing that he was not in the chairman's position.
"You are not here because you wanted to. When you saw that I was elected, and that someone from the opposition, and I am the de facto opposition, would be on the Committee, and that this Committee would have full capacity, then you changed your mind. Your duties are to dilute this, as with Telekom, and not to reach any conclusion," he said.
Nikolić responded that he was there to correct institutional shortcomings.
Leader and MP of the Democratic People's Party (DNP), Milan Knežević, emphasized that the Committee will not play the role of an inquisition or take on the role of the prosecution and courts.
"I wish we had never formed the committee, that the prosecutor's office and the courts had done their job, so we could deal with nicer topics," he said.
He asked Marković, given that he said he was not the only one who knew, who was familiar with the cases mentioned, and whether he had received orders from Milo Đukanović.
"Do you have any information about who ordered the attack on Predrag Šuković? Are you aware that Colonel Radovan Aleksić accused you of orchestrating that crime? In the show 'Načisto' with Petar Komnenić, you stated that the assassination was intended to harm you. I would like you to tell us who wanted to harm you, considering that this was an attempted murder for which an innocent man was accused," said Knežević.
He said that Marković, as Deputy Prime Minister and Deputy President of the DPS, stated that the SDB had information that Duško Jovanović's safety was threatened before the assassination.
"Did you ever call Jovanović to suggest that journalists not raise certain topics that concern you personally? Why did you ask to meet with Jovanović and what were your motives? Did you have a meeting and what did you talk about and did you suggest that he sell the property and the daily newspaper 'Dan'? Did you have conversations with Zoran Lazović and Duško Golubović before or after the assassination? Are there official notes on those circumstances? Did you issue written or oral orders to Golubović and Lazović? Did they visit people in ZIKS on your orders? Did you, as the head of the SDB, have meetings with members of the Zemun clan, Dušan Spasojević and Mile Luković, and did they use SDB ID cards? Can you tell us about the information you received as the head of the SDB about why Goran Žugić, Darko Beli Raspopović, Miloš Krstović, Blagota Baja Sekulić were killed?", asked Knežević Marković.
Socialist People's Party (SNP) MP Bogdan Božović also addressed the murder of the editor of the daily newspaper "Dan" Duško Jovanović, pointing out that Jovanović, as a journalist, wrote about cigarette smuggling, but also that Jovanović was engaged in the Directorate of Public Revenues, and that he also pointed out irregularities there, as well as that he wrote that many companies owned by the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) participated in cigarette smuggling.
"The first assassination attempt, or warning, on Jovanović was attempted when explosives were placed on his car, wrapped in one of those financial reports. He was also physically attacked in 2000 by, as it was later learned, the so-called 'black threes'," Božović said.
He asked Marković what position he held in the security sector at the time of Jovanović's murder.
"How is it possible that his life was in danger for a long period of time, and that the state failed to protect him? My guess is that some state bodies were involved in that case and are you aware that some companies owned by the Ministry of Interior, such as the company 'NTT', participated in cigarette smuggling?", Božović asked Marković. Social Democrat (SD) MP Nikola Zirojević stressed that he hoped that Marković would stand up for the "honest operatives who worked in the ANB then and now."
He added that the representative of the Democrats who is in the security sector said on television that she has no expectations from the Committee, problematizing the fact that it is led by a representative of the opposition party, even though the rules of procedure stipulate so.
"The question remains why government representatives participate in the Committee if they have no expectations from it unless the point is to create a theater, to create a courtroom atmosphere. I think the public will have the opportunity to see what the ultimate goal of this committee is because only the judiciary and the prosecution are competent to deal with these issues," the SD MP pointed out and asked Marković what he knew about the attack on writer Jevrem Brković and the murder of his bodyguard Srđan Vojičić.
Democratic Montenegro MP Momčilo Leković said that it "stung his ears" when he said that "there is nothing that only he knows."
"Did you mean Milo Đukanović? Does he know all this that you know?", Leković pointed out.
"When you said that if the security service had organized an assassination, there would be no survivors, you implied that the service you lead had the capacity to organize a liquidation? Does such a statement mean that the security services had a practice of operating outside the law? How do you interpret it today in the context of unsolved murders? I will also ask you a question that was already asked to you by the sister of the murdered Jovanović, who said that you bear a great deal of responsibility, as well as why you did not tell everything at the hearing before Judge Radomir Ivanović. She also asked you then why you did not appear as a witness, and your Minister Andrija Jovićević did?", asked Leković.
He also asked Marković what he knew about the beating of Aleksandar Saša Pejanović, noting that the police officer who testified had stated that it was "ordered from the top of the police."
Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) MP Oskar Huter thanked Marković for his presence, regardless of the fact that "the questions that were raised could have previously been the subject of the competent institutions."
"We won't get anything new today. I understand the intention of the parliamentary majority to exploit the media through this type of simulated hearing. In jargon - to make some small political point," said Huter.
He asked Marković how the service was structured, because while it was the SDB, it was not independent but under the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
"I understand that your role was not as the first person, but you had the Minister of Internal Affairs above you. I would like you to explain how it was structured and what its responsibilities were? Did that work have elements of investigation or was it about collecting data. Let's understand the context of that time, when Montenegro was distancing itself from Slobodan Milošević, the ideologist of those who are today the parliamentary majority. I am interested in the form of the split in the security services during the time of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and later Serbia and Montenegro," Huter pointed out.
He added that while he was in the museum business, cases of attempted assassinations of King Nikola were discovered.
"In the context of that story, who were the endangered figures among the officials? Were those who decided to lead the country through independence targeted by certain security-interested officials? And I'll clarify that a little - the regime in Belgrade has been labeled as the one who ordered numerous murders. We will remember Ivan Stambolic, they found him somewhere in the lime, journalist (Slavko) Curuvija, (Prime Minister) Zoran Djindjic...", said Huter.
New Serbian Democracy (NSD) MP Jovan Vučurović assessed that it is time to reveal who ordered the many murders in Montenegro, and added that he will look into the murder of the advisor to the President of Montenegro, Goran Žugić.
"I will orient myself on the statement of Goran Stanjević, the then representative of the Government's Agency for Foreign Investments. He said that Žugić was killed just a few months after he delivered documentation from Switzerland to him regarding the investigation by the Bari prosecutor's office into cigarette smuggling between Montenegro and Italy, in which former President Milo Đukanović was involved," he said.
He asked Marković if he knew anything about the documentation that Stanjević had delivered to Žugić.
"He told Italian investigators that year that the smuggling documentation related to Đuaknović's role in the business and that he brought the papers to Montenegro after being contacted by the wife of the so-called smuggling king, Ćiro Macarela," Vučurović said.
He also referred to the murder of the former editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper "Dan" Duško Jovanović.
"Until this murder is solved, Montenegro cannot be a democratic or legal state," Vučurović said.
The NSD MP said that a police officer recently "revealed the crime scheme to the public" on a television show, and that there are police officers who are willing to testify that "obstruction was carried out within the police themselves."
"Have you seen this scheme and do you know what the full names are? Under the organizers, the SDB (State Security Service) is listed, then the initials DM and the police. Did this police officer mark you? Also, it has been pointed out several times that the rifle used to kill Jovanović comes from the ANB depot. It has been pointed out several times that the service armed criminals. Also, the infamous Seventh Directorate, which was the police-political truncheon of the former regime, is mentioned, and we see how official records in the investigation of the murder of Jovanović were destroyed. Some of your knowledge about all this - you were at the head of the SDB and ANB throughout all this time. Knowing you and your political activities, some logic simply does not allow me to think that you were not aware of certain facts, that you were ikebana, even though there was someone above you at the time - either Đukanović or Vukašin Maraš," Vučurović said.
He asked Marković whether the rifle used to kill Jovanović was from the ANB depot, whether he knew that the ANB armed criminals, who all the rifles were issued to, and whether anyone else had been killed with them.
Vučurović also asked the former prime minister whether the ANB recruited criminals for dirty work and to name their names.
At a session of the Inquiry Committee into the actions of state bodies in political murders and attacks on journalists and intellectuals, including the activities of the "Black Threes", MPs are questioning former Prime Minister, Minister of Justice and Director of the National Security Agency (ANB) Duško Marković.
Marković said at the beginning that the hearing "by its nature has no legal, statutory or institutional logic."
"With this at the beginning, I want to say that regardless of the inappropriate and undeserved pressures on me, I am consciously exposing myself here to new ones because I want to show that it is the obligation of all heads of state bodies, especially statesmen, to always respond to conversations that can have the goal of strengthening society and its institutions. My entire professional engagement has been dedicated to strengthening institutions and building trust in them even when they were insufficient and endangered. This is best done by example and that is why I am here, and not because of what is behind this initiative," said Marković.
As he added, there is nothing that only he knows, but what he knows is also known by the operatives who collected information, analysts, his superiors...
"I have never collected information. I have always been informed and that is the only proper way to work," Marković pointed out.
Bonus video:
