The Special State Prosecutor's Office is waiting for the decision of the Supreme Court and the Basic Court in Podgorica on the selection Boris Raonic for the general director of the Radio and Television of Montenegro (RTCG), in order to decide on the criminal charges against him, certain members of the Council, the lawyer of the media house and the head of the legal department.
This stems from the response of the SDT, which opened an investigation in July 2023, that is, formed a criminal case based on the reports of the non-governmental association Media Centar from Podgorica.
State prosecutor and SDT spokesperson Vukas Radonjic he replied that certain written and electronic evidence, notifications and information from the Council were collected during the investigation, suspects and witnesses were heard, but that the decision has not yet been made.
"The SDT follows the appropriate procedures that were initiated before the Supreme Court of Montenegro and the Basic Court in Podgorica regarding the last decision of the Council on the election of the general director of RTCG, because the decisions in those procedures are important for deciding on criminal charges as well," the answer reads.
Raonic's mandate expires in January next year.
On May 10, the High Court in Podgorica confirmed the verdict of the Basic Court that the general director of RTCG Boris Raonic was in a conflict of interest when he was elected to that position in August 2021 because he had already been appointed by the Assembly to another public position - member of the council Electronic media agencies.
The court made a final decision, and according to the claim of the candidate Nikola Marković, that according to the Law on the National Public Broadcaster, it was a nuisance that Raonic already holds a public office, so the legal consequence is - the annulment of the decision on the election of Raonic, a re-election among the registered candidates or the annulment of the competition.
The candidates for RTCG general director in 2021 were, apart from Raonic, Nikola Marković, Milutin Stijepović i Srdjan Covic.
With the votes of four out of five members of the RTCG Council, Raonic was reappointed as general director. Member of the Council Marijana Camović Veličković she left the session before the vote, claiming that she did not want to participate in another illegal election, while Milica Špajak at the beginning of the session, she pointed out that she would not vote if the Council accepted the proposal to decide on the candidates based on the 2021 competition.
SDT explained to "Vijesta" that on June 16 last year, the Basic State Prosecutor's Office submitted a criminal case against individual members of the Council, because public officials were also reported for the criminal offense of abuse of office. The media center filed a criminal complaint against the president of the RTCG Council Veselin Drljević and members Filip Lazović, Naod Zorić, Predrag Miranovića i Amine Murić due to the suspicion that they refused to execute a final and enforceable court verdict and enabled the elected general manager Raonic to obtain an illegal benefit.
At the end of July, a criminal case was also submitted to the SDT against three suspects on grounds of suspicion that they committed the criminal offense of abuse of official position by inciting individual members of the Council. In question are reports against Raonic, a representative of the legal service Želimir Mićović and RTCG lawyers Zorica Đukanović.
That case, explained the SDT, was merged with the already formed criminal case against members of the Council, in order to conduct a single procedure.
In the following period, the Supreme Court should decide on the decision of the High Court, which found that Raonic was illegally elected as director of the public service in August 2021. After the re-appointment of Raonic in June 2023, his opponent and director of Radio-television Nikšić, Nikola Marković, sued the RTCG and that proceeding is ongoing before the Basic Court in Podgorica.
Marković, who was one of the candidates for the general director of RTCG, is suing to annul the new decision on the appointment of Raonic as the first man of the Public Service because the courts previously determined that he was illegally elected to that position.
He believes that the Council illegally elected Raonic again, even though they were instructed to choose a new director from the remaining candidates, while Raonic disputed the claim, saying that he acted according to the orders of the courts and that there were no legal obstacles to his election during the second appointment.
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