As one of the victims of attacks and attacks on independent media over the past two decades, I am surprised that the president Milo Djukanovic took the risk to comment on anyone's attitude towards the media, and especially to compare it, because he knows very well that he is the champion not only of Montenegro, but also of the region and Europe, when it comes to the treatment of journalists by politicians and officials.
This is what the president of the Board of Directors of "Vijesti" said. Zeljko Ivanovic, commenting on the fact that Đukanović, in his last TV interview, agreed with the assessment that the Government will Dritan Abazović to be remembered "as the government with the most labeling and the most brutal attacks on freedom of speech and the media".
"I wouldn't want to be a lawyer for anyone, not even the current prime minister, but as a witness to the time that Đukanović is talking about, as a journalist and a person from the media, I can say that I am concerned by the mentioned statement of the president of the country and one of the most powerful people in the country." , Ivanovic said.
In addition to Ivanovic, journalists and editors and the property of "Vijesti", during the rule of the DPS, were the target of attacks for years, the perpetrators of which are still unknown, and a small number received a judicial epilogue.
Other critical media were not spared a similar fate, so even today it is not known who killed and who ordered the murders. Duško Jovanović.
It is not known at whose behest dirty campaigns were conducted against critics of the then government from the ranks of the civil sector.

"So, 12 physical attacks on journalists, editors, founders of Vijesta, on our property, gunshots, bombs, baseball bats, the murder of Duško Jovanović - could the president forget and erase all that, in order to conclude that there is someone, Abazović for example , worse than him! Add to that the fact that none of the aforementioned murders, attempted murders, attacks, destructions have been solved in the sense that the perpetrators are known, for which Đukanović himself is again responsible, because he, as the most powerful man and prime minister, controlled the police and the prosecutor's office , which should have been discovered by the organizers", Ivanović warns.
When all the above is added up, he emphasizes, then one should be a big cynic, laugh in the faces of the victims and their families and colleagues, and then say that someone has done worse to the media than him.
"There is no worse or more terrible period for the work of independent media than when Đukanović, from 2002 until today, dominantly created the media scene, targeting independent media and financing his propaganda or encouraging various contortionist businessmen to do so. I hope that this policy towards the media of any politician is on the wane and that after the Đukanović era, no one on the political scene will think of persecuting the independent media, encouraging their lynching, financing their propaganda from state and municipal budgets, or animating and pressuring them. various businessmen to deal with the media without any meaning other than spreading propaganda and hatred", Ivanović concluded.
Abazović: That's a compliment to me
Prime Minister Abazović said yesterday that "what Djukanović said is a compliment for him".
"When he led the government, journalists were killed and beaten, bombs were thrown at newsrooms. "I will never say anything to any journalist or newsroom that would be an incitement to violence," Abazović said yesterday.

"I have a political and civil obligation and I cannot remain silent about what is a call to extremism, a call to conflict, outpourings of hatred, evil, nationalism in Montenegro. I respect the right of every media to write whatever they want, but the right you ask for yourself, give to others. To have an opinion in relation to some phenomenon, nothing else. When we mention some media, we mention them, and maybe we shouldn't give them special importance, because the citizens don't give them importance either. They try to portray us as the same as themselves, they know that they themselves have been criminalized, so they want to criminalize everyone in order to say - everyone is the same. They are not the same, their members are already responding, and it should not be surprising that in some Montenegro, in this one, Đukanović is also responding," stressed Abazović.
He also claims that "we pay too much attention to media financed by organized crime." "They can be as angry as they want. Let's wait for the process and in a year or two it will be clear. How did a new portal appear before the Podgorica elections? I'm not disputing, maybe 10 more new portals and televisions will appear. What a sheep sees lying down is neither far away nor difficult to recognize," concluded Abazović.
Executive Director of NGO "35 mm" Darko Ivanovic yesterday he criticized Abazović's statements at the expense of certain media.
"We appeal to the Prime Minister in his technical mandate to stop targeting the media and get out of the vortex of endangering the safety of their editorial staff and employees as soon as possible. If he does not do that, he is personally responsible for every attack - verbal and physical - that follows in these tense and dark times for the freedom of the media and ultimately - for democracy. It is time to finally put an end to this practice in which Montenegrin politicians are traditionally the champions of the Balkans and Europe," announced Ivanovic.
Radulović: If the president forgot, we didn't
"Vijesti" journalist Mila Radulović, who for years reported on most attacks on the media and representatives of the NGO sector, points out that "fortunately, we are not yet under collective amnesia to forget the journalists who were killed and beaten, the chase that the daily newspaper 'Pobjeda' conducted against Montora journalists, the arrest of journalists, placing explosives in front of the office of the editor-in-chief of Vijesti, setting Vijesti's vehicle on fire...".
"If there were brutal attacks on journalists and media freedom, as well as freedom of speech, it was during the mandate of the DPS government. What is bringing Informer and Pink and the chase against Vanje Ćalović Marković, the owner of 'Vijesti' - if it is not an attack on freedom of speech", asked Radulović.
She reminded the president and "other supposed guardians of independent media" that they were silent then.

"Or they were still heating the fire. We have not forgotten Đukanović's stories about the media mafia, while at the same time the DPS government covered the losses of Pobjeda for years. Those same newspapers, which were condemned for insulting and defaming Milke Tadić Mijović i Milena Perović. The same newspaper that did not spare any bad words for all those who criticized DPS and Đukanović", said Radulović.
She asked what Djukanović did when "his mayor attacked the Vijesti team and the editor-in-chief and shifted the blame to his son".
"In the sea of disgusting political statements we are bombarded with in the public space, this one made me even more upset. Especially in the context that all those media and individuals who rejoiced when we were victims, are now talking about independent media - thinking of DPS apologists", concluded Radulović.
Bonus video:
