Investigating the murder Duško Jovanović and the bringing to justice of all the participants in that crime was demanded from the authorities yesterday, on the nineteenth anniversary of the assassination of the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Dan".
President of the state Jakov Milatovic he said that, on behalf of the citizens, he demanded from the authorities a complete clarification of that crime, and the president of the Assembly also demanded the same Danijela Đurović and the Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic.
"I don't know if it's good because I'm the one coming here today or it's sad that in the previous 19 years we didn't have a president who represented the citizens and who had to come here. I leave it to the citizens to judge about it and I repeat again to the competent authorities to shed light on this case, because this is what absolutely all citizens in Montenegro and I, as president, expect. It is absolutely unacceptable to have anything other than the complete truth when it comes to the murder of Duško Jovanović and that as a result of that truth all those who participated in this heinous act should be punished. This is the only way we will repay Duško, his family and justice in Montenegro and all free journalists", said Milatović after laying a wreath at the place where Jovanović was killed.
In addition to the perpetrators and those who ordered the murder, those who conducted the investigation so that the truth will never be established escape justice. It has not been determined who is responsible for the fact that there have been no serious results for almost two decades.
The President of the Assembly said that there are no more excuses and that it is necessary to create the conditions for the creation of independent and professional institutions that will provide an answer to the question that "has been plaguing Montenegro for 19 years".
"The path to the truth is not easy, but it is our obligation to Duško, his family and society as a whole to show that no one can be stronger than the state," said Đurović.
She also said that there will be no media freedom in Montenegro until the murder of Jovanović is completely solved.
Abazović assessed that the murder of Duško Jovanović was not only an act of killing the editor-in-chief of the then largest newspaper in Montenegro, but an act of killing the truth and the fight for justice, because of what that man did in his career, especially in those years, when he became a target of criminals.
He said this after laying a wreath at the place where Jovanović was killed with the Minister of Internal Affairs, Filip Adzić.
The Prime Minister also said that someone must finally answer who ordered and carried out that murder.
"Without a solution to this issue, justice in Montenegro is impossible," he said.
Abazović pointed out that he believes that "new people in the prosecution" will make a new contribution to solving the case, and that the state is ready to provide them with logistics.
"We will try to do two or three things, which I think are important. The first is that, in cooperation with the Commission for Monitoring Investigations of Attacks on Journalists and Media Property, we are already asking the Prosecutor's Office to implement several of their recommendations. Secondly, to ask for international expertise, to help us in what would be the revision of the previous results. And the third is to sensitize the situation regarding this case within the Council of Europe, in order to see that, in cooperation with them, we may receive instructions so that we can move towards a potential solution", stated the Prime Minister.
Abazović repeated the position that Jovanović was killed by the tobacco mafia and that this is "the main reason why we don't have masterminds or murderers in prison."
"The resolution of this case would explain many other political and other processes in the previous two and a half decades," he said.
Without that, Montenegro will not find its peace in the moral and political sense, Abazović assessed.
He appealed to the prosecutor's office to speed up, stating that the tactic in the previous structures was to die with the passage of time and the last hope that this case would be solved.
"If the principals and murderers are searched for in the philharmonic hall, they will not find them. This was clearly stated at the meeting. If they are looking for them among people who are known when it comes to the criminal milieu in Montenegro, I think they have a chance. They need to change their modus operandi a little," concluded Abazović.
From the non-governmental organization Action for Human Rights, they again demanded the engagement of a foreign expert who would analyze the investigation into the murder of Jovanović.
They recalled that the Commission for Monitoring Investigations of Attacks on Journalists, based on the state of the files, determined deficiencies in the investigation and made recommendations for further action.
"However, there is no progress in discovering the perpetrators of the murder and those who ordered it."
"Jovanović published a series of texts about cigarette smuggling, for which he blamed the highest representatives of the Montenegrin government. "Clarifying his brutal murder is in the interest of justice, restoring trust in the judiciary, protecting investigative journalism and the right of citizens to be informed," the HRA said.
The Minister of Culture and Media, Maša Vlaović, announced that the primary task of the Government is to protect journalists and the media so that no one would dare to threaten freedom, "and it starts with freedom of expression".
"Montenegro affirms and promotes freedom of speech and freedom of the media. The investigation into the murder of Duško Jovanović has been reopened and we hope that whoever ordered the murder of Duško Jovanović and everyone who participated in that crime will be brought before the court and will be punished as they deserve".
The Media Union pointed out that nineteen years after the murder of Jovanović, the state still did not shed light on the biggest crime against journalists in the history of Montenegro.
"A big stain remains on the face of the state due to the absence of an effective investigation that would lead to the perpetrators and motives for that crime."
The journalist and former member of parliament was killed on May 27, 2004, by shots from an automatic weapon, when he left the editorial office of the daily he owned.
So far, only Damir Mandić from Podgorica has been convicted of participation in the murder. In April 2017, the Appellate Court upheld the verdict for complicity and sentenced him to 19 years in prison.
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