They expect verdicts, not delaying games: What the State Department is saying by banning Medenica and Božović from entering the US

The State Department's decision to allow the former first lady of the Montenegrin judiciary Vesni Medenici and the former leader of Budva Milo Božović banning entry to the United States of America (USA), is a clear message to the Montenegrin judiciary, whose important parts are rightly perceived as susceptible to vested interests, that it must show willingness to prosecute the highest public officials.

Thus, the interlocutors of "Vijesti" comment on yesterday's move by the US government to put Medenica, Božović and certain members of their families on the "black list".

On the other hand, Medenica's defense attorney Zdravko Begović He told the editorial office yesterday that the US government's decision was a surprise to him and Medenica, and that he did not know the reasons for such a move.

"... I spoke to my client on the phone. Neither she nor I were aware of the decision of the US government that she was allegedly banned from entering that country. In any case, this is something new, probably due to the fact that criminal proceedings are being conducted against Vesna Medenica," Begović said.

The State Department announced that Medenica and Božović were designated as persons who are “generally ineligible” for entry into the United States due to their “involvement in significant corruption that facilitated drug trafficking.”

"Božović abused his public office to support organized crime and international drug trafficking operations... Medenica abused his public position to assist a criminal smuggling organization by leaking judicial information, mediating court decisions, and accepting bribes in exchange for money and real estate to fix court outcomes," the US government statement reads, among other things.

To the members of Medenica's immediate family - her son Milos i circles Maria Medenica, as well as Milo Božović - his wife Dragan, and sons Balshi i Pavle Božović, is also banned from entering the US.

Vesna Medenica was arrested in April 2022, and Milo Božović a year later. The former president of the Supreme Court is suspected of abuse of office and membership in a criminal organization, while the former leader of Budva is charged with creating a criminal organization and drug trafficking.

Warning to domestic institutions

Director of the Research Center of the Network for the Affirmation of the Non-Governmental Sector (MANS) Dejan Milovac, told "Vijesti" that the State Department's decision confirms that high-level corruption and ties to organized crime remain a key threat to the rule of law and democratic development of Montenegro. He stated that this is a "clear signal" from the international community that abuses at the highest levels cannot go unpunished.

According to him, such a move is also a warning to domestic institutions that it is high time to show the capacity and readiness to prosecute the highest public officials, and that, if this does not happen, the fight against corruption will remain under external pressure, while citizens' trust in the system will continue to weaken.

"Therefore, we particularly emphasize that the process of thorough vetting of judges, prosecutors and key functionaries in the security sector is a necessary step without which Montenegro cannot restore the integrity of its institutions. Only through vetting is it possible to break the networks of corruption in the judiciary and prevent the 'untouchables' from protecting themselves with positions of power, instead of being held accountable before the law," Milovac said.

The trial against Medenica has been marked by frequent postponements of hearings. In early July, the Court of Appeals returned the case against her for abuse of office, in which she was sentenced to six months in prison in the first instance.

In February, the trial against Medenica, her son Miloš and other defendants for creating a criminal organization and other serious crimes began anew.

At the last hearing in that case, a special panel of judges of the Podgorica High Court Vesne Kovačević announced that it suspects that Medenica, by going to the hospital in Risan on August 31, just a day before the scheduled trial on September 1, obstructed the continuation of the trial in order to help her son, whose detention expires on October 17, as it will then be three years since the indictment was filed without a first-instance verdict being issued.

In July, the proceedings against Medenica and the Commercial Court judge resumed. Milice Vlahović Milosavljević for abuse of official position.

The hearings in the case against Božović have also been postponed many times, and in July his trial began for smuggling 4,3 tons of cocaine, laundering around seven million euros, as well as for causing general danger and illegal possession of weapons.

Procrastination is no coincidence

Deputy Prime Minister Momo Koprivica (Democrats), told the newspaper that the State Department's sanctions are a confirmation of the credibility of the work of the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDO), but also a special message to the judiciary, whose important parts, he says, "are rightly perceived as selective, slow, and deeply susceptible to vested interests."

"Such a level of delay in proceedings before the High Court, which is not in the least a coincidence, is a serious defeat of the institutional responsibility and integrity of the High Court in Podgorica, but also of the recent composition of the Constitutional Court, which, despite its scruples and its previous positions, lifted the detention of Miloš Medenica, even though that person was once on the run," he assessed.

Koprivica pointed out that the State Department "does not get what it gets" from the High Court in Podgorica and the recent composition of the Constitutional Court "led by judges who wanted to stay in office longer than the Constitution prescribes." He added that the High Court's consent to "games of delay" in proceedings directly leads to a deep crisis of trust among the domestic and international public.

"This further confirms the correctness of the Government's position on the necessity of vetting in the judiciary and a radical reform of the accountability system and mechanisms for verifying the integrity of judges," the interlocutor emphasized.

Koprivica said that the US government's decision indicates the necessity of strengthening cooperation with that country in the fight against crime and corruption, but also in preventing support for criminal structures, which, he claims, receive it both from within, from power structures close to the former regime, and from the region. This, he said, must be decisively eliminated.

"It has been proven once again that the judges of the former regime led Montenegro into an abyss and isolation," he stated.

Begović: Let's respect the presumption of innocence

Begović said that Medenica has not yet been sentenced in a final judgment, and that the presumption of innocence is "fully in effect."

"I know for sure from earlier that Medenica was a guest in the US, at the Ministry of Justice there, so I was really surprised by such a decision, when the proceedings were still ongoing and had not been legally concluded. Medenica was the President of the Supreme Court and the Supreme State Prosecutor, and she had no other activity besides that in any protocol sense," he told "Vijesti".

Medenica has visited the United States on several occasions, on study visits and exchange programs, and has received professional training in the field of human trafficking at Johns Hopkins University in Washington.

Begović reiterated that the State Department's decision was a surprise, that he "objectively does not know" what the reasons were for it, because, he emphasized, the presumption of innocence must be respected in any case, and that the fact that proceedings are being conducted against Medenica does not mean that she committed a criminal offense.