The proposal of the Inquiry Committee to interrogate detainees from the Spusk prison is a dangerous step towards legal and institutional confusion, which also carries a security risk - assess the interlocutors of "Vijesti".
This temporary parliamentary working body, which deals with the actions of state authorities in cases of allegedly politically motivated murders and attacks on journalists and intellectuals, accepted the initiative of MPs and leaders of the Democratic People's Party (DNP) yesterday. Milan Knežević to send a letter to the Ministry of Justice to obtain an opinion on whether parliamentarians can question some detained persons who are linked to the murders and crimes that the committee is dealing with.
Knežević mentioned Ivan Delić, Damir Mandić, To Sasha Boret i Ljub Bigović, in the context of the murder of the editor-in-chief of Dan Duško Jovanović, but also in connection with other crimes.
The Ministry of Justice did not respond to "Vijesti"'s questions about their view of the Inquiry Committee's proposal, whether such a thing is possible, or whether they will approve the request to that body for MPs to question detained persons.
"Vijesti" has learned unofficially that the ministry, upon receiving the letter from the Inquiry Committee, will contact the Supreme Court, the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office, and the Directorate for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions in order to adequately respond to the request from parliament. A "Vijesti" source from the Ministry claims that there is little chance that the request will be accepted.
"Persons in custody cannot go outside without a court decision. They cannot be walked from committee to committee... Secondly, persons whose testimonies could jeopardize ongoing proceedings cannot be summoned to hearings. Also, the question of security risk is open - how will you keep all these people outside...", the interlocutor stated.
According to the Rules on the Detailed Execution of Detention, "a detained person may be temporarily taken out of prison only upon the order of the investigating judge or the president of the council."
Attorney Miloš Vuksanović He assessed for "Vijesti" that the proposal of the Inquiry Committee raises several serious questions about the limits of the jurisdiction of the legislative branch in relation to the role and function of the judiciary.
"First of all, the Inquiry Committee must not and cannot take on the role of either a court or a prosecutor's office. Its purpose is parliamentary oversight, of an informative and recommendatory nature, and not the determination of criminal responsibility. Any approach to that line represents a dangerous step towards legal and institutional confusion," he warned.
Vuksanović explained that, unlike the prosecutor's office or the court, the Inquiry Committee has neither coercive mechanisms nor the authority to legally take any statements from the summoned persons.
"The very act of summoning these individuals, along with the media tension that precedes and follows such decisions, creates a strong impression that they are expected to confess or reveal some key information, as if their connection to the event in question has already been proven. This violates a fundamental legal principle - the presumption of innocence," the source stressed.
According to him, although the proponent's effort to find answers through non-institutional mechanisms can be understood and even supported, it is, he says, entirely legitimate and humanly expected that the invited persons refuse to appear or make any statement. Not because of any possible guilt, but, as he explained, because it would put them in a position to participate in a politically formatted interrogation, "where every word, even with the most honorable intentions, could be misinterpreted and misused."
It says that, if there is political and social will to reach the full truth about the events that the Inquiry Committee is considering, then the right path is institutional - the prosecution, the courts, and legally conducted investigations.
"Everything else, no matter how seemingly quick it may be, carries with it the risk of politicizing justice and harming the legal certainty and dignity of all citizens," Vuksanović concluded.
Knežević said at the committee meeting that detained persons should also be questioned, because if they can contribute to solving crimes - that is very valuable.
"I don't think we are taking on the role of the prosecution, and we are also taking on no harm, because we will do a better job than the prosecution and Montenegrin courts," said the deputy president of the Inquiry Committee.
Damir Mandić served a 21-year prison sentence in May of this year for being an accomplice in the murder of Duško Jovanović. This means that, XNUMX years after the murder, which remains unsolved - as neither the killer nor the person who ordered it is known - he is the only person convicted of that crime to have served his full sentence.
Delić was extradited to Montenegro from Dubai two months ago and is being held in the Spuž Remand Prison as part of the "General" case, in which a large criminal group is charged with international cocaine smuggling.
Saša Boreta and Ljubo Bigović are accused of the murder of a senior police official Slavoljub Šćekić, in a process that has lasted 19 years.
The two of them, Ljubo Vujadinović i Milan Čila Šćekić In several court proceedings, they were sentenced to 30 years in prison for the murder of Šćekić, but the verdicts were constantly overturned and the case is still before the Court of Appeal.
DPS will reconsider whether to remain in the committee
President of the Inquiry Committee and MP of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) Andrija Nikolić He said that he would not sign the request to the Ministry of Justice because, as he stated, bringing people from Spuže for questioning in the Parliament would be contrary to the Law on Parliamentary Investigation.
"In that case, we will reconsider our further participation in the Inquiry Committee. The Assembly is not the prosecution. It is not a question of courage, but a question of sense, or rather, senselessness," he said.
Nikolić announced at the session that he expected the parliamentary majority to call for questioning Interior Minister Danilo Šaranović, who recently presented operational information in parliament that Ivan Delić had killed Goran Žugić, then an advisor to the head of state, in 2000.
Knežević responded to the opposition's criticism by saying that he did not know why the committee would not question Ljubo Bigović, when that detainee had spoken to former Prime Minister Dritan Abazović at UIKS about the murder of Jovanović.
"Someone might kill me on the way home because I mentioned these names. But I think we have to use everything we can to get to the truth," he said.
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