By the end of last year, the General Secretariat of the Government had not responded to the Commission for Monitoring Investigations into Attacks on Journalists regarding the recommendation from April 2024 to announce a cash reward of at least one million euros for persons providing information that could help or lead to the clarification of the murder. Duško Jovanović.
This follows from the report on the work of the Commission for the period from April 10 to December 1 last year, which was published yesterday on the Government's website.
"The Commission also addressed a letter to the General Secretariat of the Government and requested information on the status of the implementation of the Commission's recommendation that the Government announce a cash reward of at least one million euros to a person or persons for providing information that could help or lead to the clarification of the murder of Duško Jovanović, but no response was provided by the date of conclusion of the report," the report, signed by the President of the Commission, states. Mihailo Jovovic.
The report states that from April to December, the Commission was informed of current cases of attacks on journalists based on media reports and requested the submission of complete files on the actions taken by the competent authorities. The attacks on the journalist Alisa Hajdarpašić during the performance of a work assignment in April 2024, preventing the TV Vijesti crew in March from participating in the morning program "Colors of the Morning" from Tološka šuma in Podgorica, threats to employees of Television E who received several threatening comments on the social network Facebook from two profiles, threats to a female RTCG journalist Natasha Baranin.
"The Police Directorate has submitted responses, while the response from the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office has not been submitted by the date of conclusion of this report," the report states.
The Commission also addressed the competent authorities regarding the most recent case of an attack on the editor of the crime column in the daily Pobjeda. Anu Raickovic, demanding that they provide them with documentation.
"The Police Directorate did not submit a response by the date of conclusion of the report, while the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office sent information that it was unable to submit the aforementioned files because the procedure was in the investigation phase."
The Commission's new report covers cases of attacks on journalists Oliver Lakić from 2012, Danica Jankovic i Slobodan Čukić from August 2022, to the editor-in-chief and responsible of M Portal Danica Nikolic from September 2022, Duško Mihailović i Milica Minić.
In a report on the attack on a journalist Lakić from March 2012, the Commission recalls that five persons were found guilty of the criminal offence of giving false testimony and sentenced to three months in prison, while one defendant was given a suspended sentence - a prison sentence of three months and at the same time it was determined that it would not be executed if the defendant did not commit a new criminal offence within two years after the verdict became final.
The Commission points out that all defendants were convicted and sentenced to a minimum sentence of three months in prison, and one defendant was given a suspended sentence, which is why the properly competent prosecutor's office filed an appeal against the Basic Court's verdict on the sentence imposed "and thus did what it could do, but the second-instance court rejected such an appeal by decision."
The Commission recommended that in future, in such cases, proceedings be regularly initiated against witnesses for whom, in the opinion of the court or prosecutor's office, there are grounds to believe that they gave false testimony before the court or prevented evidence, which is the obligation not only of the prosecutor handling the case, but also of the judges handling the case.
In the report on the attack on journalist Janković and Čukić, The Commission states that the Police Directorate submitted requests to the Court for Minor Offences to initiate minor offence proceedings against two persons, 96 days after the event, although the deadline for this is 60 days, which is why the proceedings were suspended.
The Commission, among other things, recommended that the police always inform prosecutors about all cases of threats and attacks on journalists and their property, who should act "with particular urgency and without delay take all measures and actions in accordance with the law, and in the event of a decision to dismiss a criminal complaint, submit a request to initiate misdemeanor proceedings, taking into account the statute of limitations."
In the report on the attack on the editor-in-chief and responsible editor of M Portal Danica Nikolić, who filed a complaint against an unidentified person who sent three offensive and threatening emails, the Commission claims that they were not provided with documentation on the actions of the Podgorica State Prosecutor's Office and the SBPOKK, Department for Suppression of Serious Crimes, Group for Suppression of High-Tech Crime.
"It is also unclear why the official note of the Police Directorate, Regional Security Center, 'Centar', Security Department Podgorica, Police Station for JRM without a number dated 12. 9. 2022 was registered with the Ministry of Internal Affairs only on 23. 9. 2022, i.e. 11 days after it was drawn up, and not on the same day or, say, a day later or some other date," the report states.
In relation to the attack on journalist Duško Mihailović, the Commission stresses that the police officers in coordination with the ODT in that case took all legally permitted data, but recommended that the prosecution send a letter of request to the judicial authority of Ireland in order to establish the identity of the user of the Twitter account who threatened him. Regarding the second attack on Mihailović, when he was verbally attacked on a work assignment, the Commission found that the police officers in coordination with the ODT Podgorica and the ODT Nikšić, in the case in question took all legally permitted actions, while the ODT Nikšić acted correctly and efficiently in terms of prosecuting the suspect, when they dismissed the criminal complaint and prosecuted the suspect for a misdemeanor.
The commission, regarding the physical attack on Minić in 2018, concluded that the attack was not related to the journalistic profession but was solely due to a misunderstanding on the beach, which is not within their jurisdiction.
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