Iličković: The police proved to be an insurmountable obstacle in the case of effective investigations

The judge of the European Court of Human Rights, Paul Lemmens, pointed out that in the case of investigations into acts of torture, these procedures must be carried out efficiently and quickly.

He said this at today's conference "Standards of effectiveness of investigations for acts of torture in Montenegro".

"The investigation must be fast, otherwise the trust of citizens will be lost," said Lemmens.

He pointed out that an effective investigation does not necessarily mean that there will be a verdict.

"There must be zero tolerance when police officers do it, that is, when there is abuse of state bodies. That is why a quick, efficient and independent investigation is necessary," Leemens pointed out.

Judge of the European Court for Human Rights, elected on behalf of Montenegro, Ivana Jelić, pointed out that officials, who are in charge of maintaining public order and peace, must know what their powers are.

"When authority is exceeded, it is always attributed to the state," she said.

The representative of Montenegro before the European Court, Valentina Pavličić, pointed out that the big problem is that there is still no verdict in the Sinistaj case, that is, that the case has not been closed.

In 2015, Montenegro lost a case before the ECHR in Strasbourg in the case of police torture during the arrest in the "Eagle's Flight" operation. In that operation, during the search of the house of the Sinistaj family, five members of the SAJ were accused of exceeding their authority and causing minor injuries to the father of the two suspects, Petar Sinistaj.

She explained that the criminal complaint was filed back in 2006, and that the problem was that the statute of limitations had expired in the case of Milić Nikezić.

The court in Strasbourg also ruled in 2015 that prison guards Igor Milić and Dalibor Nikezić were tortured during the search of the cells.

The judge of the Constitutional Court, Miodrag Iličković, pointed out that the police proved to be an insurmountable obstacle in the case of effective investigations. He explained that he meant this in the case of the beating of Miodrag Mijo Martinović and citizens in Zlatarska street in Podgorica.

"Proceedings should have been initiated against all SAJ officials. We did nothing like this, we stopped halfway," Iličković pointed out.

He pointed out that these cases had to be resolved in Montenegro.

"We should have finished that at home, and not let Strasbourg deal with it," said Iličković.

He added that it is worrisome that Montenegro is now in first place in terms of the number of constitutional appeals, while previously it was fifth.

He pointed out that the Constitutional Court has an obligation to protect citizens from democratically elected authorities.

He stated that in the last five years society has been in a state of turmoil and political tension, and that the duty of the courts is to protect the rights of citizens, that is, to act with great authority and professionally.