The commission is investigating why attacks on journalists are a secret

By the end of this year, the government will form a commission that should determine the reasons for not covering cases of murder and violence against Montenegrin journalists.

This is provided for in the Action Plan for Chapter 23, which refers to the judiciary, anti-corruption and fundamental rights, whereby Đukanović's cabinet revised the earlier position that the establishment of such a body would be redundant and that this work should be done by competent state authorities.

According to AP, December 2013 is the deadline for the formation of a government commission to monitor the actions of competent authorities in "investigations of old and recent cases of threats and violence against journalists and murders of journalists".

In order to prevent attacks on journalists, the police are tasked with analyzing the risk of threats to employees in the media.

In the same period, the adoption of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission is foreseen, which determines the organization, working method and decision-making procedure of the Commission, as well as the provision of space and resources for work.

From January next year, the prosecutor's office and the police will be required to regularly report to the Government Commission on investigations of "old and recent cases of threats and violence against journalists", and the report should contain the number of solved cases in relation to the total number of cases in the previous period. For this obligation, which should be undertaken by two officials, it is planned to allocate 19.440 euros from the budget.

From one of the investigations after the attack

Since December 2013, the Police Directorate has been assigned the obligation to introduce "a system of measures and actions undertaken with the aim of protecting journalists from threats and violence".

In order to prevent attacks on journalists, the police is tasked with analyzing the risk of threats to employees in the media, increasing the level of protection of journalists from threats and violence, and assessing the situation in the area of ​​journalist protection.

The Vice President of the Montenegrin Government, Duško Marković, told "Vijesta" a few months ago that the Government's position is that investigations must be carried out by state authorities and that such an initiative has not been initiated in Montenegro.

"I rather advocate the thesis that institutions should do their work responsibly and professionally and that our efforts must be directed towards strengthening the capacity of institutions, primarily the prosecution, courts and police. By ensuring a satisfactory level of operation and results of these institutions, any commission on this occasion it would be redundant. That's why shedding light on attacks on Montenegrin journalists and editors must be a priority for our investigative bodies," said the Deputy Prime Minister at the time.

"Vijesti" was informed by his cabinet that they are not able to answer why the Government revised the original position.

The most brutal attack on a journalist, which has not been brought to light for nine years, is the murder of the editor-in-chief of "Dana" Duško Jovanović on May 27, 2004, in front of the newspaper's editorial office.

The principals and attackers of the director of "Vijesti" Željko Ivanović, who was beaten on September 1, 2007 on the tenth anniversary of the paper's publication, were not discovered, nor were the principals and attackers of journalists Mladen Stojović and Tufik Softić, the principals of the attack on "Vijesti" journalist Olivera Lakić, the arson vehicles of ND "Vijesti"...

It has not been revealed who, during the attack on the writer Jevrem Brković, killed his companion Srđan Vojičić, and the secret is also who in the police and prosecutor's office covered up the circumstances of the attack by Miomir Mugoša and his son Miljan on the editor of "Vijesti" Mihailo Jovović and photojournalist Boris Pejović.

It is not bad if there are people of integrity in the commission

The editor of Action for Human Rights, Tea Gorjanc-Prelević, told "Vijesti" that HRA, in its comments on the Action Plan, proposed to the Government that the Assembly form a commission to evaluate the effectiveness of investigations into violence against journalists and others due to their expression, which would include representatives of the media and the civil sector. .

"This is because, despite the measure from the old AP for the implementation of the recommendations from the EU Opinion from November 2010 to make reports on violence against journalists, those reports did not deal with cases that were in the investigation phase, but only with those that reached the court . It is important to find out what happened to the investigations that have been going on for a long time and in which there was no progress. Although we think that a body formed by the Assembly would have greater legitimacy, the Government Commission does not necessarily have to be a bad solution. Everything depends on how representative it will be, what powers it will have and whether it will be made up of people of integrity", says Gorjanc-Prelević.

She believes that an objective assessment of the state of those investigations, an answer to the question of whether everything that reasonably had to be undertaken to shed light on these cases has been done or not, would already be some progress.

According to her, the HRA also proposed to draft a Public Information Strategy, following the example of Serbia, around which all associations of journalists gathered, and which would be adopted by the Assembly in the form of a resolution.

I hope this will not be another circus and mockery of the victims

The director of "Daily Press" Željko Ivanović hopes that the initiative on the formation of the Government Commission will not be another circus organized for Brussels and mocking the victims of violence, but starting things from a standstill.

"I, and I'm sure every public speaker in Montenegro, welcomes any initiative that could start things from a deadlock and help shed light on numerous attacks on journalists, some of which ended tragically. It is good that the Government is starting with such an initiative, but it would not be good if the Government, which has looked favorably on all these attacks for years, leads and organizes such a Commission. Not to say that this government encouraged the attacks and looked with approval on the inability of the police and the prosecutor's office to launch an even more serious investigation into those attacks. I think it would be much more effective if the Government expressed its will to actively participate in the commission's work. To be at the service of the commission that it should lead, someone from the independent media whose members, editors and journalists, were victims of the attacks that caused it to be established, said Ivanovic.

He considers it important the participation of NGO representatives who are close to this issue, as well as representatives of international organizations who have experience in the work of similar bodies.

"Only such an approach would make sense and give hope that this is a sincere desire of the authorities to begin to shed light on these attacks, and not to organize another circus for the Brussels administration in the form of formally fulfilling their proposals without any effect or result. That would be a complete waste of time and another mockery of the victims of violence," Ivanović assessed.

Serbia has already started it

At the beginning of this year, the Government of Serbia formed a Commission for the review of the facts that came to light in the investigations of the murders of journalists. She should deal with who made mistakes in the work of the police, prosecution and other state authorities during the investigation into the liquidation of Slavko Ćuruvija, Milan Pantić and Radislava-Dada Vujasinović.

In the action plan, the Government of Montenegro also included the obligation to prepare a security assessment for journalists and their family members, security in case of threats, police escort and protection of family members and facilities where they live and in which they are professionally engaged, operational checks in the field in relation to persons who are registered as perpetrators of attacks on journalists.

The elucidation of those acts and the discovery of the perpetrators and perpetrators and the conduct of criminal proceedings are strengthened.

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