Last year, Montenegrin President Jakov Milatović pardoned two people - one who failed to support a person he was legally required to support, and another who was convicted of illegal possession of weapons...
As stated in the documents, the first was sentenced to community service in 2013, and the second was fined in 1997...
"Rehabilitation is granted for the suspended sentence imposed in 2013 (Article 221 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro) and the imposed sentence of community service for a period of 120 hours from 2015 (Article 221 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro) ... rehabilitation is granted for the imposed fine imposed in 1997 (Article 177 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro), the suspended sentence imposed in 2000 (Article 144 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro) and the suspended sentence imposed in 2006 (Article 403 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro)," the report of the head of state states.
5 pardon decisions were adopted by former Montenegrin President Milo Đukanović in 2023, and he did not honor 46. He made decisions in the period from January 1 to May 20, 2023, when the current President Milatović took over that position after winning the elections.
According to the Law on Pardon, the President of Montenegro grants pardons.
Based on this act, a pardon grants exemption from criminal prosecution or full or partial exemption from serving a sentence, then replaces the imposed sentence with a lighter sentence or suspended sentence, provides rehabilitation, but also determines a shorter duration of certain legal consequences of the sentence, or abolishes some or all legal consequences of the sentence.
"A pardon may abolish or shorten the duration of security measures such as the ban on performing professions, activities and duties, the ban on driving a motor vehicle and the expulsion of foreigners from the country," the Law on Pardons states.
In the same period, Milatović rejected 44 requests, which also related to those convicted of murder, against the freedom and rights of man and citizen, against electoral rights, for criminal offenses against marriage and family, but also many others...
"All requests for pardon have gone through the procedure prescribed by law," it is written on the website of the President of Montenegro.
The pardon application is submitted to the Ministry of Justice, and the department headed by Bojan Božović told "Vijesti" that in the same period, they had 54 cases opened based on submitted pardon applications.
"The President of Montenegro is not bound by the proposal of the Minister of Justice as to whether or not the request for pardon should be accepted. However, in the President's decisions on pardons submitted to this Ministry during 2024, it follows that the proposals of the Ministers of Justice were accepted, that is, that the proposals of the Ministers and the final decisions of the President of Montenegro were identical," the ministry said.
The pardon procedure is initiated upon a request for pardon or ex officio, according to the website of the Government of Montenegro.
The application may be submitted by the convicted person, his/her spouse, blood relative in the direct line, adoptive parent, adopted child, brother, sister, foster parent or a person with whom the convicted person lives in an extramarital relationship.
The application may be submitted after the judgment has become final and may be repeated after the expiry of a period of one year from the date of the last decision on pardon if the judgment imposed a prison sentence of over three years. The application may be repeated after the expiry of a period of six months from the date of the last decision on pardon if the judgment imposed a prison sentence of up to three years. The application does not postpone the execution of the criminal sanction.
Among the 44 petitions that Montenegrin President Milatović did not accept are petitions from people convicted of various criminal offenses.
In ten decisions in which he rejected the pardon requests of the convicted, six of them committed the crime of aggravated murder, one was convicted of murder, one of light bodily harm, and two of serious bodily harm.
It also issued five decisions rejecting requests for pardon from those convicted of endangering security and persecution, as well as one decision rejecting the request of a person convicted of destroying voting documents.
He also rejected six appeals from those convicted of destruction and damage to property, fraud, concealment and aggravated theft. There were also appeals for clemency from a person convicted of illicit trafficking. In addition, he rejected nine appeals for clemency from those convicted of the unauthorized production, possession and distribution of narcotics.
He also rejected requests for pardon for those convicted of forest theft, serious crimes against public transport safety, obstructing an official from performing an official duty, violent behavior and creating a criminal organization, illegal possession and carrying of weapons and explosive materials, and even for forging documents.
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