After the incident in Herceg Novi, in which the former leader of the Liberal Democratic Alliance, Slavko Perović, was injured, part of the public speculated that police officers often "look through their fingers" when they exceed their powers.
At the same time, that case, in which the police officer Božidar Jauković, who was previously sentenced to a suspended prison sentence, took part, raised the question of whether civil servants, as repeat offenders, are treated equally before the law as other citizens.
Coordinator of the human rights program in the Civil Alliance, Milan Radović, claims that civil servants and ordinary citizens in our country are not treated equally in judicial practice and believes that civil servants, who are repeat offenders for committing the same criminal acts, receive lighter court sentences, instead of stricter ones, as foreseen by law.
"We saw this in the example of the police officer Božidar Jauković, who was convicted several times for crimes in the same area, serious and minor bodily harm, but the courts and trial judges did not apply the rules of practice, but always gave him suspended sentences," says Radović.
He adds that according to the logic and rules dictated by standards in the field of human rights, punishments for civil servants should be stricter, especially in cases of gross violations of human rights.
Lawyer Vladimir Bojić believes that, when it comes to returnees, that is, those who have already committed a criminal offense before, judicial practice and the penal policy that creates it should be, and in the majority of cases, harsher.
In the Basic Court in Podgorica, the judges claim that it is not true that ordinary citizens and civil servants have different standards in judging, that judgments cannot be generalized, and that how the judge will judge depends on each person individually, i.e. on aggravating or facilitating circumstances, family situation , whether the injured party joined the criminal prosecution and the like.
"That is not true, in this court there are many cases in which police officers have been accused or convicted more than once for the criminal offense of abuse and torture. The problem is that the injured party often does not file a criminal complaint, or refers to inadequate medical documentation," the court said.
A maximum of two suspended sentences
They explain that with the changes to the Criminal Code since 2010, a suspended sentence cannot be imposed more than twice, with the fact that it is deleted from the file one year after the expiration of such a sentence.
Bojić explains that if someone commits a criminal offense while the probationary period is running, then the criminal panel suspends the sentence and activates the prison sentence.
"That can be done by the court, the state prosecutor or possibly the injured party," says the lawyer.
It happens, the judges admit, that three proceedings are conducted for the same criminal offense, against the same persons, just for different events
It happens, the judges admit, that three proceedings are conducted for the same criminal offense, against the same persons, only for different events, in several Montenegrin courts.
"And that person gets, say, three suspended sentences, and then the judges turn out to be corrupt, and that is simply impossible to follow, unless that person tells you that another case is being conducted at the moment," they explain in that court.
Inter-institutional corruption
Radović points out "inter-institutional corruption" as an additional problem, which is primarily reflected in the high level of solidarity of civil servants from all institutions, and which is based on mutual services in order to avoid legal sanctions.
"This solidarity leads to the fact that sometimes prosecutors and police officers protect themselves so much that the former don't even think of launching investigations based on citizens' reports against the latter. There is also the example of 'Šoškić' from Beran, where we have a high level of solidarity that literally a family member is constantly fighting whether the prosecutor should do something against the police officers, i.e. wouldn't he be doing his job," says the coordinator of the human rights program at the Civil Alliance.
We also have reports from citizens, he adds, who claim that the judges begged them to reconcile and forgive the police officers during the court proceedings, so that the police officer would not be convicted.
Also, the GA has registered numerous examples in which the competent prosecutor's offices did not act equally quickly and independently, so, following mutual reports for the same incident, it happens that a citizen is convicted, and the trial of a police officer has not even started.
"In such situations, the citizen accused the police officer of abuse, and the police officer accused the citizen of obstructing the police officer in the performance of his official duties.
It is a classic example of how police officers in the majority of cases try to defend themselves from court consequences", says Radović.
Judges state that a policeman cannot always be seen as a thug, who beats citizens for no reason, but that there are many situations in which the judge judged that the policeman had to react.
Judges state that a policeman cannot always be viewed as a thug, who beats citizens without reason
"On the contrary, I almost had one acquittal of a man for whom I determined that there was no assault on an official, even though the policeman reported him for assault. But he did not file a criminal complaint against the police officer, so the prosecution cannot react either," said one of the judges.
The law is clear
The Criminal Code states that an aggravating circumstance for the defendant is if he is a returnee in the commission of a criminal offense, and that a harsher sentence than the prescribed one can be imposed if he has been previously convicted two or more times for criminal offenses with intent to serve a prison sentence of at least one year, and if he has not five years have passed since the release from serving the previously imposed sentence until the commission of the new criminal offense.
"Appreciating in particular the gravity of the previously committed criminal offense, whether the previous offense was of the same type as the new offense, whether both offenses were committed for the same reasons, the circumstances under which the offenses were committed and how much time has passed since the conviction, i.e. served, pardoned or expired sentences, exemptions from punishment, after the expiration of the term for revoking a suspended sentence or after a court warning has been issued," the Law says.
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