Nebojša Medojević, an opposition MP in Montenegro, the newest NATO member, is a witness that serious charges can mean prison. He spent almost two weeks behind bars last month because he refused to share more details with prosecutors regarding the corruption allegations he leveled against the Montenegrin ruling elite.
According to Medojević, the international reaction is responsible for his release, not "the rule of law, which is weak here", writes American Bloomberg.
In its review, the media writes that the arrest of Medojević comes at a crucial time for the former Yugoslav republic, which it describes as a "Western embankment" in a region that still feels the influence of Russia - Montenegro, although a member of NATO, is surrounded by countries such as Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, which are included in the "struggle over influence".
Although it has moved the farthest on the path to joining the EU, Montenegro is faced with major obstacles before the planned accession in 2025.
As Bloomberg writes, according to the EU's assessment, the state has a lot of work to do - more must be done in the field of rule of law, protection of human rights and independence of the judiciary, as well as the fight against criminal groups involved in drug trafficking and money laundering.
"Freedom House" recorded a decline in democratic standards in Montenegro in its latest report, and "Reporters without Borders" in its Media Freedom Index, due to the government's pressure on the media and attacks on journalists, ranked Montenegro 103rd out of 180 observed countries. .
Bloomberg also recalls the political history of the "leader of the nation", President Milo Đukanović, who "broke his way through the ranks of the one-party system", was an ally of Slobodan Milošević, whom he "rejected in order to create a pro-Western image of himself" before he led the official split from Serbia. A decade later, while he was preparing Montenegro's entry into NATO, he "accused Russia of planning to kill him in an attempted coup d'état on the day of the parliamentary elections", and thanks to his political immunity (he was either president or prime minister since 1991) "he bypassed several investigation," including the 2005 Italian cigarette smuggling investigation.
A good basis for slowing down the accession of Montenegro to the European Union
"The arrest of Medojevic is an indication of a political system that is characterized by the application of personal power against the rule of law," Timothy Les from the University of Cambridge told Bloomberg. "Not only will Đukanović's targeting of the opposition make the path to the EU more difficult, but the slide into authoritarianism will also give many skeptics of EU enlargement a good reason to slow down Montenegro's accession to the European Union," adds Les.
Montenegro, Blumberg reminds, is not only shaken by the arrest of Medojević - there is also a video showing the president of Atlas Group, Duško Knežević, giving $97.500 in cash to a high-profile member of Đukanović's DPS, which has ruled the country since the fall of communism.
Knežević accused the authorities of trying to confiscate his property due to deteriorating relations with Đukanović, after the Central Bank introduced receivership in two of his banks and revoked the license of IBM Bank. Knežević also claims that the recorded "transaction" was one of his many contributions to the ruling party, which rejects the accusations as an attempt to discredit state institutions and Montenegro.
According to Bloomberg, the opposition MP, Nebojša Medojević, is following Đukanović's move against the "long-time financier" with interest while he waits for the final decision on whether he will end up behind bars.
"This is perhaps the biggest rift in the Montenegrin oligarchy so far," Medojević told the American media.
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