The appointment of the former director of the Police Administration (UP) Slavko Stojanović as the secretary of the National Security Council is the latest scandal that shows that the Montenegrin authorities have no serious intention to improve the security situation in Montenegro, according to several "Vijesti" interlocutors.
On March 31, Stojanović resigned as head of the UP due to the "worsened security situation in the capital city", as announced by the Minister of the Interior, Melvudin Nuhodžić.
His resignation was preceded by three murders in a 24-hour period, one of which was an accidental victim in a confrontation between criminal groups, which took place in broad daylight in the center of Podgorica. That event was the culmination of thirty unsolved murders and numerous bomb attacks on the territory of Montenegro.
President of the URA Civic Movement and MP Dritan Abazović thinks it sounds "comical" to appoint a former police director, who himself resigned due to the problem of having to deal with organized crime, constant attacks, beatings of citizens on the street, increasing criminal activities of organized criminal groups, to the position of secretary National Security Council.
The Government of Montenegro did not answer yesterday why Prime Minister Duško Marković appointed Stojanović to that position, during whose leadership of the police the security situation "deteriorated", which was the cause of his resignation. They did not respond to any message that the prime minister, who is also the president of the National Security Council, wanted to send by appointing Stojanović to such a responsible position.
The President of the United Montenegro and former Minister of the Interior, Goran Danilović, believes that by electing Stojanović as Secretary of the Council, the Government has shown that "that body means nothing to it and that its role in the security system is not essential, but forced and painful."
"I remind you that Stojanović resigned precisely for reasons of a security nature - failure to shed light on the frequent and daily attempted murders and murders in the capital. On that occasion, the Council for National Security, chaired by Prime Minister Marković, was in session. It was obviously about the pre-election resignation and appeasement of the public, and not about the intention to determine the blame for the bad situation in the security sector", said Danilović to "Vijesta".
The official of the Democratic Front, Vladislav Bojović, believes that this procedure sends an unequivocal message that "the ruling group's goal is not to improve the security situation in Montenegro, but the exact opposite."
The Government announced on Wednesday that since 1982, Stojanović has been "continuously employed in the most complex jobs in the security system, in positions ranging from police officer to director of the Police Administration."
Stojanović, as the secretary, who is obliged to see to the execution of the Council's conclusions, will exchange all intelligence and security data with the services. From that position, he should control the members of the Bureau for Operational Coordination of the Security Services to carry out tasks, help each other and exchange data, in order to achieve "more measurable results in the fight against organized crime and corruption."
At the end of July, he was replaced at the head of the Police Directorate by the controversial Veselin Veljović, who previously held the position of secretary of the National Security Council.
"The system of rotating people from the same or similar positions, placing the secretary in the position of police director, and the police director in the position of secretary of the National Security Council is proof that Montenegro is far from any democratic standards, that the current government does not want any stronger security policy within its own borders, that it does not want to fight with organized crime", said Abazović to "Vijesta"
Dina Bajramspahić, a public policy researcher at the Institute of Alternatives, announced that in accordance with the Law on Salaries of Employees in the Public Sector, the post of Council Secretary has a better coefficient than the Director of the UP, and significantly less responsibility.
"The secretary has a coefficient of 19,02, while the director has 16,43, but the director has the right to increase his salary on several grounds. In practice, it is about the same earnings", she said.
Bojović believes that Stojanović was promoted by those "who suggested that he resign from the post of UP director".
"Slavko Stojanović is a police official whose tenure saw the most mafia murders, he is the main destroyer of the protests from October 2015, his results in terms of dealing with organized crime and high level corruption of the Police Administration are equal to zero," he said.
A mandate marked by numerous murders and police brutality
Stojanović became the head of the UP in February 2013, and already during the first year of his mandate, Stefan Đukići Darko Bugarin was murdered, whose murders have not been solved even today. A year later, Baran's Andrija Mrdak was killed in front of the gates of Spuša prison, whose murder was solved, but the killers are still on the run. After that, there was a conflict between Kotor's criminal groups, during which nearly 30 murders took place, six of which were partially or fully solved.
During his mandate, the Democratic Front protest was broken up in 2015, during which several cases of police brutality were recorded, the most drastic of which was the beating of Mijo Martinović and the demolition of his car by a dozen members of the Special Anti-Terrorist Unit (SAJ). Only two members of that unit were convicted for that crime in March. For other excesses in the use of force, SAJ commander Radosav Lješković was sentenced to five months for covering up the special forces who beat citizens.
However, he resigned only at the end of March after Miloš Šaković and Radivoje Jovanović, an accidental victim of a mafia confrontation, were killed in the very center of Podgorica.
Stanišić: Stojanović should not be left "on white bread"
The President of the Parliamentary Committee for Security and Defense, Obrad Mišo Stanišić, believes that Stojanović will perform the duties of the Secretary of the National Security Council "successfully and with quality".
He believes that he should not be left "on white bread" if he resigned from the position of director of the police administration.
"Mr. Stojanović is someone who is known in the Police Directorate and the Ministry of Internal Affairs as a man who did his work well and within the limits of his abilities. "We don't need a man now, if he has resigned, to leave him on white bread," Stanišić told "Vijesta".
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