The former ombudsman of the Radio Television of Montenegro (RTCG) Danijela Popović and the candidates for this position, Vesna Pejović and Žarko Božović, announced that they will file a criminal complaint against four members of the RTCG Council headed by Veselin Drljević for their controversial decision on the election of Todor Brajković as ombudsman.
In the address they delivered to the competent institutions, the Prime Minister, the President of the State, non-governmental organizations and the embassies of European countries, it is stated that the election of the ombudsman took place in the shadow of the tragicomic play about the resignation and new appointment of the old-new CEO Boris Raonic.
Brajković, a sports journalist from the print edition of Dana, was elected at the session on July 9, in a repeated competition, by the votes of four members of the Council.
"Thus, Drljević's desire and well-planned intention in advance to push his long-time friend into the RTCG, with whom he hangs out in the Association of Sports Journalists, in which Drljević is the president, and the new Ombudsman is the general secretary, came true. This did not in the least prevent Drljević from voting for his friend, despite the warning of a member of the Council at the previous competition that he should not vote, at least for moral reasons. Friendship and interest are more important than personal and even business morals", said the signatories of the address.
They explain that these four members of the Council ignored the fact that Brajković comes from the print media and that he is unfamiliar with audiovisuals, "and that he heard about the Code of Journalists when he was negotiating with Drljević how to get the position of Ombudsman".
They consider it a shame that the long-time journalist and editor at TVCG Vesna Pejović, who is also one of the authors and signatories of the Journalist Code, did not have a chance.
"We remind you that Pejović, as the long-term president of the Independent Union of Journalists, is one of the initiators and founders of the Journalist Self-Regulatory Body, the first in the history of journalism in Montenegro. Also, since 2006, she was in charge of monitoring and analyzing electronic media in that body for four years and once a month , with a colleague from Vijesti, who followed the print media, at the press conference they publicly stated the key problems in the violation of the journalistic code and also pointed to specific examples of the media that violate the Code...", they said.
They add that the fact that Pejović is in a working relationship with TVCG did not prevent her from pointing out numerous violations of the code in that company's news broadcasts, which is why she was often fired, persecuted, and publicly called names.
"Pejović, admittedly, resented the Council and Raonic by publishing the text Jad(v)ni servis in which she pointed out and criticized his scandalous decision to abolish the Department for Italophone Cooperation and also the support he received from the Council on the termination of RTCG's cooperation with the members of the community whose headquarters in RAI-Rome", he writes in the address.
they also point out that it is obvious that the previous Ombudsman, TVCG director Danijela Popović, whose opinions, as they say, were often not in line with the management's opinion, is apparently not to the taste of the management.
"Slavica Kruščić-Vasović, a long-time RTCG journalist and president of the representative organization of the RTCG trade union, did not have a chance to be voted in either. Neither did Žarko Božović, a Radio journalist who came into the spotlight when he was forbidden to use the constitutionally guaranteed version of the radio on Radio. Ombudsman Bjeković then issued an opinion in which it was confirmed that Božović can use the iota variant, that is, that there has been a violation of equality in rights and before the law".
They say that how the four members of the Council justify the controversial, unprofessional decision to vote for someone who, apart from his friendship with Drljević, cannot compete with the other candidates for the position of Ombudsman will remain an enigma...
"Because it is obvious that neither they nor the illegal general director have any responsibility or obligation to explain their disputed decisions to anyone. It is common knowledge that they do not even respect court decisions with the tacit consent of the line ministry (where, unfortunately, our colleague also sits) as well as numerous institutions not only in the country but also internationally, otherwise very up-to-date and vocal when it comes to less important issues," claim the signatories of the address.
However, they say, the question arises as to what the citizens of Montenegro should expect, if the prosecutor's office behaves as before, ignoring not only criminal charges, but also court verdicts, which seriously undermines the foundations of the rule of law in Montenegro.
"Unfortunately, numerous international organizations have until now, by their silence, supported the evident collapse of the rule of law and the undermining of the legal system," they concluded.
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