Terzić elected police director, Brđanin dismissed

At today's session, the Government of Montenegro unanimously elected the former chief of the Budva police, Nikola Terzić, as acting director of the Police Administration.

Previously, members of the executive branch dismissed Zoran Brđanin from the post of director of the Police Directorate.

The Prime Minister of Montenegro, Dritan Abazović, proposed Terzić before that.

"Vijesti" previously exclusively announced that Terzić will most likely be acting director of UP.

Abazović said at the session that he does not for a second question the intellectual or professional capacity of Brđanin.

"However, I think that what has caught the Police Directorate, which refers to the period before 2020, is that it simply cannot avoid drastic personnel changes," said Abazović.

He said that they finally managed to unblock the delivery of data from Europol, that he knows why they did not deliver data for a while, but that this must not be allowed anymore.

"If the previous director was not aware of that, I'm sorry," Abazović said.

Damjanović: The procedure should have been completed to the end

Finance Minister Aleksandar Damjanović said that he does not dispute the reasons for the dismissal, but that he believes that the procedure should have been completed to the end and based on the report of the Security and Defense Committee, which is a legal procedure, these activities should have been carried out.

"It is true that the Committee did not inform us whether it considered the Report on the work of the police that was submitted in December, but that activity should have been completed in cooperation with the Parliament, which is working smoothly," Damjanović said.

Adžić thanked Brđanin

Minister of Internal Affairs Filip Adžić said that the Committee did not consider the report submitted to them on December 1.

"The question is in what capacity does the Assembly function. I attended a committee session yesterday where no one from the opposition was present. We cannot be held hostage by the Assembly's non-implementation of certain activities. The situation is complex, more complex than any of us could have imagined," he said. is Adzic.

He thanked Brđanin for his work so far.

"I would not mention the concept of responsibility, because the key intention of the dismissal is not the responsibility itself but the functionality of the institution. If we have some kind of mistrust between sectors within the UP itself or mistrust of international partners who contributed to the fight against organized crime in Montenegro, it is clear that some things we have to change," Adžić said.

Kovač: Great mistrust between certain sectors in the Police Directorate

Minister of Justice Marko Kovač said that at the moment there is a great distrust between certain sectors in the Police Directorate.

"We have the fact that the Special Police Department (SPO) is depriving senior management staff and members of the top management of the Police Directorate of their freedom. We cannot go beyond that. We as the Government must decide on this issue, bearing in mind the objective responsibility of the leadership itself," Kovač said. .

He said that it is a politically unpopular, but responsible decision that the Government must make, regardless of all the questionable legal procedures that exist and that are definitive.

Speaking about the previous period, Minister without portfolio Zoran Miljanić said that it is tragic for the country that foreign partners do not trust the Police Directorate and do not provide data.

"I share all the dilemmas with my colleagues, and in relation to the national security of the country, nothing is more important than that," said Miljanić.

Abazović said that the functionality of institutions must be ensured:

"Here, the trust between the authorities that should continue to carry out a complex action has been broken. The government has an obligation to raise that trust to the highest level. We cannot have historic results without international partners. Now the situation has become blocked and we should continue in that direction," he said. Abazovic.

He said that he supports the efforts of the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) and other prosecutors, as well as the head of the SPO, Predrag Šuković, who demonstrates results and supports that Šuković be given responsibility when it comes to the department for fighting organized crime.

Brđanin's resignation was requested on Monday, but he refused to submit it

On Monday, Abazović and Adžić demanded Brđanin's resignation, but he refused to do so himself.

During that day, when it was certain that he would be dismissed at the Government session, the man from Brđa told "Vijesta" that "the legal conditions for his dismissal were not met".

Brđanin's resignation was requested after a major operation by the Special State Prosecutor's Office, during which several current and former police officers were arrested, including Dejan Knežević, the assistant director of the Anti-Crime Sector, on suspicion of being members of a criminal organization. The operation of the SDT and the Special Police Department followed a months-long exchange and matching of data, which was sent to the prosecution by EUROPOL.

According to Article 16 of the Law on Internal Affairs, upon the termination of the mandate of the director of the UP, the provisions of that law as well as the law regulating the rights and obligations of civil servants and state employees are applied.

Adžić proposed to consider the dismissal of Brđanin

At the beginning of today's Government session, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Filip Adžić, proposed that three items be added to the agenda - the dismissal of the director of the Police Administration and the appointment of an acting director of the police, as well as the appointment of a protected person, but in a closed part of the session.

In the introductory part, the minister did not mention who would be his proposal for the new acting director of the Police Directorate, and in the past few days there were several names in circulation with whom it was agreed to take over the leading position within the public police system.

Terzić, former head of Pljeval police Predrag Tanjević and current head of Podgorica police Goran Jokić were mentioned as possible successors of Brđanin...

On Monday, Prime Minister Dritan Abazović and the Minister of the Interior demanded Brđanin's resignation, but he refused to do so himself.

During that day, when it was certain that he would be dismissed at the Government session, the man from Brđa told "Vijesta" that "the legal conditions for his dismissal were not met".

Brđanin's resignation was requested after a major operation by the Special State Prosecutor's Office, during which several current and former police officers were arrested, including Dejan Knežević, the assistant director of the Anti-Crime Sector, on suspicion of being members of a criminal organization. The operation of the SDT and the Special Police Department followed a months-long exchange and matching of data, which was sent to the prosecution by EUROPOL.

According to Article 16 of the Law on Internal Affairs, upon the termination of the mandate of the director of the UP, the provisions of that law as well as the law regulating the rights and obligations of civil servants and state employees are applied.

Miljanić appealed for SPO police officers to be rewarded

Minister without portfolio Zoran Miljanić appealed to the Minister of Finance at the Government session to adequately reward the policemen of the Special Police Department (SPO) and to recognize their painstaking work of many months.

Prime Minister Dritan Abazović said that the Government gives full support to all people within the security sector, to purge all personnel who are in any way supporting criminal groups.