In the investigation of threats to the journalist of the newspaper "Dan" Vladimir Otašević, everyone who has anything to do with that event was heard, "Vijesti" was told in the Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Bijelo Polje.
Velizar Marković from Mojkovic, brother of Prime Minister Duško Marković, threatened a journalist from "Dana" on September 11, that newspaper reported.
He cursed and threatened in a telephone conversation with a journalist, who contacted him in order to try to establish contact with his brother Radoj Marković through him. The prime minister said earlier that all this has a political context and that his family should be left alone.
The spokesperson of ODT Bijelo Polje, Denis Zvrko, said that the investigation procedure is ongoing. He claims that "from the first day when the event took place, the competent prosecutor acted proactively and began to clarify the case", and that they gave the police instructions to collect information and data. "All persons who participated or were present during the event were questioned ", said Zvrko. The journalist's phone, which the police took as evidence, is still in the Forensic Center in Danilovgrad, and it will be returned when the phone conversation is exculpated, for the purpose of expert authentication, the Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Bijelo Polje informed "Vijesti". The journalist's conversation with Velizar Marković was recorded on that phone.
The Association of Professional Journalists of Montenegro previously filed a complaint with the Council for Civil Control of Police Work due to confiscation of telephones, because journalistic sources, protected by law and conventions, are endangered in this way. The President of the Prosecutor's Council, Ivica Stanković, was asked for information about why they did not take care to protect journalistic sources, who are endangered in this way because the police are in possession of the phone book, messages and emails of journalists.
The Council for Citizen Control of Police Work has not yet received a response from the UP regarding this case, "Vijesti" was told. Regarding whether the Prosecutor's Office ordered the confiscation of the phone, and not the seizure of only the recording in the presence of journalists, the Prosecutor's Office says that this was the only way to exclude the conversation.
"However, the European Court of Human Rights found in the judgment "Ressiot and others v. France" that "the protection of journalistic sources is one of the cornerstones of media freedom. Without such protection, sources could be afraid to help the media in providing information," states the complaint of the DPNCG. The same court also found that the right of journalists to hide their sources is not a privilege, but part of the right to information.
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