The fact that five years after the fall of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) government, only two convictions have been handed down against the "big fish" shows that the courts are not capable of doing their job, but also that evidence for the prosecution of many former high-ranking officials has not even been sought, even though it is clear that their hands are "dirty". Despite the disappointing record of verdicts, the expectation that those who should bring justice will implement the laws due to the change of government is even more devastating.
Vijesti's interlocutors analyze the country's results in the fight against high-profile crime and corruption after the first change of government in the elections, and answer the questions - does the lack of verdicts against "more famous" names show that Montenegro is not capable of this battle and that the promises of the new authorities to prosecute the most compromised pillars of the former three-decade regime will fail?
One conviction, truly a first-instance verdict, was handed down against the former head of the Police Directorate Slavko Stojanović, who was sentenced to three years and eight months in prison after admitting ordering police to let a truck smuggling cigarettes pass. The second, final, concerns the former special prosecutor Lidija Mitrović, who was sentenced to seven months in prison for abuse of official position in an extended period (she dismissed criminal charges and postponed criminal prosecution against several persons for tax and contribution evasion, even though she knew that this institute could not be used for that crime).
Since the change of government in August 2020, many people who were symbols of the DPS government have been prosecuted. Some of them are in custody, some have been charged, but in some cases they have already been dropped, while the trials that have begun against some of them have been marked by postponements and delays...
The European Commission has been urging Montenegro for years to resolve numerous corruption scandals and issue final judgments in these cases, saying that this is important for fulfilling key obligations on the country's path to the European Union (EU) - chapters 23 (judiciary and fundamental rights) and 24 (justice, freedom and security). At the same time, Brussels warns that the Montenegrin judiciary and prosecutor's office are still perceived as vulnerable to political pressure.
A few days ago, the State Department made a decision to grant the former first lady of the Montenegrin judiciary Vesni Medenici and the former leader of Budva Milo Božović If he is banned from entering the United States of America (USA), some non-governmental activists and members of the executive branch interpreted it as a message to the judiciary that it must finally prosecute the highest officials.
Miscarriages of justice
Executive Director of Human Rights Action (HRA) Tea Gorjanc Prelevic, told Vijesti that it is disappointing that five years after the fall of the DPS, there are no more "specific indictments" against high-ranking representatives of the former government, who, according to her, were known and assumed to have become enormously wealthy while in office.
He claims that it is an "open secret" who it is all about, that these are the owners of luxury real estate and cars that they did not inherit, and could not afford from their salaries...
"The fact that evidence for their prosecution has not been provided inevitably raises suspicions that it is because it was not requested. On the other hand, in the judiciary, and in public and responsible positions, there are people, some of whom do not have sufficient knowledge, while all of them together do not have sufficient technical capacity for serious investigations," said Gorjanc Prelević.
The interviewee states that the "Apartments", "Recording" and "Telekom" scandals are cases in which the public saw that criminal acts were committed, but that there is no epilogue due to, as she says, mistakes by the prosecution and the courts.
"Everything is reminiscent of war crimes, which were quasi-processed during the DPS era, so as not to lead to the truth and accountability," she points out.
In mid-May, the High Court in Podgorica acquitted all defendants, officials of the DPS and the Social Democrats, in the “Apartments” affair. They were accused of abuse of office when granting housing loans to officials in the period from 2016-2020. In the explanation of the verdict, it was explained that the court was inadmissible for evidence that was submitted as photocopies, which were not certified. The original documentation was in the possession of the Special State Prosecutor’s Office (SDT), but in the meantime it “evaporated”, and that institution announced an appeal against the decision of the High Court.
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The "Recording" affair, which concerns the recruitment of voters before the election, despite several convictions, has never fully reached an epilogue.
As for the "Telekom" case, after more than six years in the SDT, that institution dismissed the criminal charges against the former head of state in early August. Milo Đukanović, his sisters Ana Đukanović and several other individuals, whom the Network for the Affirmation of the Non-Governmental Sector suspected of abuse of official position, accepting bribes and creating a criminal organization during the privatization of "Telekom".
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Stopped halfway.
President of the Board of Directors of the Institute Alternative (IA) and former member of the Prosecutorial Council Stevo Muk, told Vijesti that he thinks the state has "stopped halfway" in the fight against crime and corruption.
"I would not say that it has capitulated, nor that it has finally won. The results of the SDT are numerous and significant, but still partial, and have yet to pass judicial review, while the inability of the competent court to issue verdicts within the legal deadline is obvious. Incidentally, a significant part of the accused is still at large, which is also the result of the weakness of the institutions," he said.
Muk pointed out that it is unclear whether the National Security Agency (ANB) is making any contribution to the fight against crime and corruption. He pointed out that the SDT results are mainly based on data provided by international partners, which relate to the period up to 2021.
"It seems that the security services do not have the capacity to seriously deal with crime, through independent operations and procedures, and amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code that would improve the efficiency of court proceedings are overdue," the correspondent assessed.
Transcripts from Sky and other protected applications, which were “opened”, were provided to the SDT by Europol. These conversations were partly the reason for the arrest of many figures from criminal circles, but also police officers, former judges and prosecutors who allegedly collaborated with the mafia.
Handcuffs were placed on the former chief special prosecutor Milivoj Katnić, former special prosecutor To Saša Čađenović, former chief of police Veselin Veljović, former head of the ANB Dejan Perunicic and a long-time secret police agent Duško Golubović, a security guard for decades Zoran Lazovićand in his son Petru, Vesna Medenica and her son Milos, as well as a large number of persons designated as members of organized crime groups (OCG).
Former ministers were also arrested. Petar Ivanovic i Milutin Simovic (both from DPS), former director of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (ASK) Jelena Perović, former president of the Commercial Court Blazo Jovanić...
Muk recalls that the SDT indictments mainly relate to organized crime cases, but that criminal groups have not been destroyed, that their economic power has not been significantly limited, nor has their "core business" ceased.
"Too many corruption cases in the areas of privatization, public procurement, concessions, illegal construction, misuse of budget funds - have remained unfinished or even outdated. There is a chronic lack of comprehensive and credible information and explanations from the state prosecutor's office to the public, parliament and the Prosecutorial Council," the source notes.
470 cases, 40 convictions
Whether progress has been made in the fight against crime and corruption since the fall of the DPS is best answered by the data provided to Vijesti by the Judicial Council. The editorial team requested information from that institution on cases that have been pending since January 1, 2021, until yesterday, based on indictments for high-level corruption crimes - abuse of office, fraud, embezzlement, unlawful influence, giving and receiving bribes...
The inefficiency of the courts is evidenced by the fact that 416 cases have been received for these criminal offenses (Articles 424 - 2021 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro) since the beginning of 470, and 140 final verdicts have been issued, of which 40 were convictions.
By far the most cases concerned abuse of official position (299), against 601 individuals. Less than a third of the cases (92) were finally resolved - 21 verdicts were convicting, 32 were acquitting, 34 were dismissing, 25 were suspended, and 32 were dismissed. 11 suspended sentences were imposed, nine were prison sentences, one was fined, and the trials are still ongoing in 105 cases.
83 cases against 161 people were received for unscrupulous work in the service. There were 24 final verdicts, of which three were convictions, six were acquittals, eight were rejections, six were suspensions and seven were dismissals. One suspended sentence and two prison sentences were imposed, and the process is ongoing in 28 cases.
There are 42 cases against 67 people for bribery. There are 11 final verdicts, 10 of which were convictions and one acquittal, and five prison and suspended sentences were imposed, and the process is ongoing in 14 cases.
Vetting pending
The vetting process - a procedure for checking the assets of judges and prosecutors, their possible connections to crime, and their professional competence - has been promoted by the new authorities for years as a solution to the fight against high crime and corruption. Although government representatives are "full of mouths" about vetting, this process, at least officially, has not begun. However, some ruling parties (Democrats) claim that they are implementing it in the departments they manage, while part of the public claims that it is a matter of revenge and the collapse of institutions.
Tea Gorjanc Prelević says that a consensus was reached for vetting a long time ago, at least in public - both among the Ministry of Justice and the heads of the prosecution and courts, but that, she adds, "it should have been the head of parliament." Andrija Mandic (New Serbian Democracy) cries out for some concrete action to be announced, which is worrying."
"In order for the result of the vetting to be a basis for dismissal, the Constitution would need to be changed, which is not impossible, because the provisions regarding the membership of the Judicial Council would be changed anyway. However, these are, for now, the only changes that have been envisaged, so it could be concluded that the introduction of the vetting has been abandoned," she stressed.
Mandić said in June that the vetting of judges and prosecutors should be carried out by the end of the year, while the State Secretary of the Ministry of Justice Sergej Sekulovic recently told Vijesti that the department has certain solutions for introducing vetting that do not have to wait for constitutional changes.
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Gorjanc Prelević points out that it is unclear why at least a vetting of candidates for entry into the judiciary has not been introduced, following the example of Moldova.
"Also, first and foremost, a security check should be conducted on persons holding leading positions in the judiciary, in the Judicial and Prosecutorial Councils, and in the Constitutional Court," said the interviewee.
Stevo Muk noted that over the past five years, through various processes, higher levels of the prosecution and police have been partially freed from "controversial personnel."
"A portion of OKG's assets has been temporarily frozen. There are no final judgments, so there is no permanent seizure of assets. There is no clear and comprehensive vision for judicial reforms, so we are going in circles when it comes to vetting and seizing assets acquired through crime. From one government to another, from one version of the law, approach and model to another, without a concrete answer or epilogue," the source said, adding that the state prosecutor's office is not providing any concrete initiatives for changes to the law either.
"I believe it is necessary to establish a regular system of integrity checks for those entering the police and judiciary, as well as during their advancement, including through existing institutions and mechanisms," Muk concludes.
Anđelić: It is not known who is judging, who is accusing, who is arresting
Attorney Branko Andjelic He told Vijesti that it is devastating for society to expect justice from 2020, and that it is even more devastating to expect that judicial office holders will respect and implement the law with a change of government.
"The worst thing is that in our country we no longer know who is judging, who is accusing, who is arresting - in this chaos, these and other indictments that reduce all the 'guilt' of a decades-old government to the 'gifting' of apartments are not surprising."
Asked to comment on the idea of vetting, Andjelic replied that politicians are still in their "common sense" not to vote for a law that will prosecute and "vet" them tomorrow.
"That would be political suicide - and our politicians, no matter how incompetent they seem, have an extremely developed survival instinct."
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