The Council of the Radio Television of Montenegro (RTCG) illegally appointed Boris Raonic as the general director in June of last year.
This was confirmed by the Higher Court, ruling on the appeal of the RTCG, on the first-instance verdict of the Basic Court in Podgorica on the lawsuit of Nikola Marković.
That last year's illegal appointment followed a final verdict also based on Marković's lawsuit, and the court then found that Raonic did not meet the conditions of the 2021 competition, but also that he was in a conflict of interest because at the time of his candidacy for general director, he was a member of the Council of the Agency for electronic media (SAEM).
Most of the members of the Council then decided to act according to the verdict, but they did not disqualify Raonic, but voted for him again, ignoring the warnings of the vice-president of that governing body, Marijana Camović Veličković, that they were "entering the zone of criminal responsibility".
The Higher Court recently expressed the same position, examining the decision of the Basic Court, following the lawsuit filed by Srđan Čović.
In the latest decision, the High Court notes that "contrary to the claims of the appeal, the first-instance court correctly decided":
"As the first-instance court correctly finds, and contrary to the allegations of the plaintiff's appeal, and according to this court's assessment, the court does not have the authority to order the defendant to 'eliminate one of the registered candidates' during the re-election. The court only has the authority to annul the defendant's decision, if it is not adopted in accordance with the law, while it is up to the Council of the RTCG to make a new decision on the selection of the registered candidates, while it should take into account the reasons given by the court in the judgment by which it annulled the decision," reads the judgment of September 20, which "Vijesti" has insight into.
The High Court emphasizes that the decision to dismiss Raonic from July 9 this year at his own request is not relevant in this legal matter.
"... Because the court was dealing with the legality of the decision from June 1, 2023," said the High Court.
After the media recently published the position of the High Court on Čović's appeal, management announced that the decision of the High Court has no legal effect.
"Namely, the court annulled the earlier Decision No. 01-3576 dated June 01.06.2023, 2024. in which Boris Raonic was appointed as general director. Since in the meantime Raonic resigned from the position of general director, this decision of the court has not been in force since July XNUMX, when the RTCG Council appointed the acting general director of RTCG. After that, according to the new Law on Public Media Service, a competition was announced again, where Boris Raonic was chosen as the general director", Raonic's office states, stressing that "some media reported unprofessionally" about the latest decision of the High Court.
This summer, the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) returned to the Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica the case files related to last year's reappointment of Raonic to the position of general director.
The SDT previously investigated the cases against Raonic and some members of the RTCG Council for more than a year, and the chief special prosecutor Vladimir Novović recently, during a guest appearance on Television Vijesti, claimed that the necessary documentation, the minutes and the audio recording of the Council's session had been obtained, that they had been heard persons in the capacity of suspects and in the capacity of witnesses.
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