Gorjanc Prelević: What I am experiencing now from the Democrats, I did not experience even during the DPS period

The Executive Director of the Human Rights Action (HRA), Tea Gorjanc Prelević, wrote on her Facebook profile that the Democrats continued their attack on her this morning, this time also attacking her family.

She stated that a discrediting text against her husband was published through the Press.co.me portal.

"Publicly available information that my husband is a co-owner of a company and that he inherited an outbuilding in the countryside has been falsely presented as criminal acts. The goal is clear - to discredit us all and to scare us for our children. Because what's next and who should I ask for a security assessment from? From the Democrats, who are openly and shamelessly attacking me," Gorjanc Prelević wrote.

She emphasized that: "I have not experienced this in Montenegro even during the DPS era"!

The Press.co.me portal published an unsigned text stating that lawyer Dragan Prelević, husband of the executive director of the NGO "Action for Human Rights", has developed construction businesses worth millions in Montenegro.

The text was published after several days of controversy between the Democrats, who lead the security sector, and Tea Gorjanc Prelević, and after she reacted when they released a statement attacking lawyer Veselin Radulović for publicly challenging the manner and motives behind the months-long vetting at the Police Directorate.

Due to the Democrats' claims that he is a representative of criminal structures, Radulović announced that he would file criminal charges against the Minister of Interior Danilo Šaranović, the acting head of the Police Department Lazar Šćepanović, as well as against Deputy Prime Minister Aleksa Bečić and the head of the Democratic parliamentary group Boris Bogdanović.

Due to the Democrats' claims against lawyer Radulović, the HRA executive director reacted, stating that the party "is using threats and blatant disqualifications to try to prevent lawyer Radulović, and all others to whom threatening messages are being sent, from processing their mass dismissals and suspensions in the police and military"...

This was the reason for the Democrats to respond to Gorjanc Prelević, claiming that she was "giving the lawyer a political and media shield", that she was "using him as cannon fodder", emphasizing that they would not be able to stop the vetting in the police.

The party accused Gorjanc Prelević of "opposing vetting in the police and security services", "scheming", "sharing a political and interest agenda with former DPS president Milo Đukanović", "misleading the public", but also of being "ready for dirty work...

A group of 29 civil society organizations and activists condemned the several-day attack by Democratic Montenegro on the personality and integrity of the Director of the Human Rights Action, Tea Gorjanc Prelević, due to, as they stated, her clear, principled and well-argued position that insists on the law and international standards, including the right to criticize the government.

They said that in a democratic society, differing opinions are not only permitted, but also desirable, and that it is worrying when the government begins to equate the party with the institution and the state, because this stifles any space for a critical stance.