Although he was found guilty in the first instance, the Bar Association of Montenegro did not sanction the lawyer from Podgorica Dejan Klikovac due to violation of the General Rules of the Code of Professional Ethics of Lawyers - professional reputation, because the disciplinary prosecutor dropped the indictment.
The initiative to initiate disciplinary proceedings against that lawyer from Podgorica was initiated by the non-governmental organization Center for Civic Education, and after "Vijesti" announced last year that from the beginning of 2022 until April 3, the Agency for the Protection of Personal Data and Free Access to Information (AZLP) a total of 3.491 complaints related to data access were submitted, of which almost half (2.206) were submitted by natural persons EM and her attorney - lawyer Klikovac.
The Council of the Agency could not decide at that moment, due to the lack of a member and president, and the director of AZLP Ivan Medojević then he said to "Vijesta" that he believed that it was an "obvious abuse of the right to free access to information".
Guilt, appeal, withdrawal of the indictment
The Bar Association replied to "Vijesta" that the disciplinary prosecutor initiated disciplinary proceedings against Klikovac in July 2022.
"...Due to the violation of the General Rules of the Code of Professional Ethics of Lawyers - Professional Reputation, which prescribes that 'when exercising the legal profession, in other public activities and in private life, a lawyer is obliged to protect the reputation of the legal profession and his own reputation'. The first-instance decision of the AK Disciplinary Court, by which the appointed lawyer was declared guilty of a disciplinary offense, was annulled by the decision of the AK Higher Disciplinary Court and the case was sent back for a new decision. After that, the disciplinary prosecutor dropped the submitted indictment on 21.12.2022/XNUMX/XNUMX. year, and in that sense, the disciplinary proceedings against the named lawyer have been completed", the Bar Association replied to "Vijesta".
In the CGO initiative, it is stated that "certain natural persons, i.e. organizations, through lawyer Dejan Klikovac and Dragan Drašković, in the previous period sent a disproportionate number of requests for free access to information to the authorities, in connection with which the suspicion was expressed that it was an intention to burden their capacities, and later also the capacities of AZLP.
The Bar Association did not answer whether there was a disciplinary procedure against lawyer Drašković.
Suljević: Unhealthy solidarity damages the reputation of the profession
In the initiative submitted to the Chamber of Advocates in April, the CGE reminds that, at that moment, the AZLP "has been blocked for the fourth month due to the lack of a member and president of the Council, and due to legal deadlines, it is not able to process all complaints in a timely manner".
"According to the above, there is a well-founded suspicion that in this way they are trying to sabotage the regular work of the authorities, AZLP, and above all that, by creating such a situation, they are trying to obtain material benefits as a consequence of the impossibility of these authorities acting in a timely manner and deciding on the requests for free access to information, i.e. complaints filed due to their silence... Apart from the fact that in this way the opportunities provided for by law, which are encouraged through the representation of these lawyers, are misused, and that this also causes large expenditures for the state budget, which is why one of the two lawyer is already recognized in the public, these actions thwarted the intention of interested persons and organizations to, bearing in mind the burden caused by the authorities, achieve access to the requested information through the proportionate use of this mechanism", they said in the initiative from the CGE at the time.
Associate in programs at CGO Damir Suljević warned that the Bar Association was obliged to, in order to protect the reputation of its profession, itself condemn such actions of lawyers and initiate appropriate disciplinary proceedings.
"Unfortunately, we were convinced of the inefficiency of their bodies, which, if not on their own initiative, then on the initiative of the Center for Civic Education (CGO) had to act as soon as possible and determine whether there is disciplinary responsibility in these cases. To date, we have not received any written response that would contain information about the reasons why the disciplinary prosecution of one of the two lawyers was abandoned, nor the reasons why there was no action by the disciplinary prosecutor in relation to the other lawyer", said Suljević for "Vijesti". ".
According to him, the competent prosecutor's office should take a professional interest in the obvious abuses of the institute of free access to information, because it is certain that they are being done with conscious intent, with the aim of obtaining material benefits.
"Finally, the reputation of any profession, not even the lawyer's, is protected by unhealthy solidarity with colleagues who damage that reputation with this kind of behavior. Defense against such unprofessional actions should be the Bar Association, which in this case, as well as in some other cases before, failed the professional protection exam", concluded Suljević.
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