The higher court in Bijelo Polje annulled the first-instance verdict rejecting the claim of lawyer Ana Kolarević against the weekly newspaper "Monitor".
Podgorica court judge Veljko Radovanović scheduled a retrial for September 12.
In October of last year, Radovanović decided that "Monitor" did not tarnish Kolarević's reputation with articles about the "Telekom" affair, and that she did not suffer mental pain, because the journalists who wrote the articles had a legitimate reason to believe that she was the sister of the highest government official, who Ana Kolarević is practicing law.
In separate lawsuits, Kolarević sued the publishers "Vijesti", "Dana" and "Monitora" for a series of texts in which she is connected to the "Telekom" affair and demanded compensation of 100.000 euros each.
In those texts, the reports of American investigative authorities are cited that Magyar Telekom bribed several Montenegrin officials with a total of 7,35 million euros during the purchase of Telekom CG, and that among them was "the lawyer sister of the highest government official at the time".
Judge of the Basic Court Mirjana Popović dismissed as unfounded the lawsuit filed by Kolarević against the newspaper "Dan".
Contrary to judges Popović and Radovanović, their colleague Miodrag Pešić acted, who in July of last year ruled that "Vijesti" had hurt the honor and reputation of Kolarević by writing about almost the same topics and awarded her 5.000 euros as compensation.
In the annulment decision, the High Court states that the first-instance judgment does not contain clear reasons on the decisive facts, which is a consequence of the superficial assessment of the presented evidence.
"It is a fact according to the order of this court that the plaintiff is a public figure, because it is about a person who plays a role in public life, including within the framework of the lawyer's activity he is engaged in, but also in cases where a public figure is involved, there is an obligation to check the accuracy and completeness of what is published", it is stated, among other things, in the annulment decision of the High Court.
He also adds that Kolarević's appeal rightly indicates that a full evaluation of most of the disputed texts was not done.
Tadić-Mijović: I am shocked, the Constitutional Court has already overturned two similar verdicts
The director of "Monitor" Milka Tadić - Mijović believes that the decision of the High Court is scandalous and that it represents "a confirmation of the old practice by which the courts tried to prevent the media from writing about abuses of power".
She added that it is unbelievable that the High Court makes a completely contradictory decision, not only to the first instance court, but also to the Constitutional Court, but contrary to the practice in Strasbourg. "I am completely shocked, the pressure on the media continues, even though two similar verdicts have already been overturned by the Constitutional Court," said Tadić.
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