Representative of the University of Montenegro (UCG) on the Council of Radio Television Podgorica (City) and full professor at the Faculty of Philosophy, dr. Marijan Premović In 2016, he was rehabilitated after being sentenced to a suspended prison sentence three years earlier for forging an educational document.
This follows from the response of the Podgorica Basic Court to questions from "Vijesti", after the non-governmental organization Media Center called on the City Council to initiate the procedure for dismissing Premović, if he does not meet the conditions prescribed by law and if he provided false information about himself during the appointment.
“We inform you that upon inspection of the electronic records of this court (PRIS), it was determined that on 14. 11. 2016, Premović Marijan... filed a request for rehabilitation with this court pursuant to the judgment of this court K.br.218/13 of 24. 6. 2013, which was only partially modified by the judgment of the Higher Court in Podgorica Kž.br.1429/2013 of 11. 11. 2013. On 23.11.2016. 962, the Basic Court in Podgorica issued a decision Kv.br.16/962, which establishes that the legal rehabilitation of the convicted Premović Marijan has occurred pursuant to the aforementioned judgment. The decision of this court Kv.br.16/23.11.2016 of 06.12.2016. XNUMX became final on XNUMX. XNUMX. year", it is written in the answers of the Basic Court.
Media center “Vijestima” submitted the verdict of the Basic Court, by which Premović was convicted in June 2013 of the criminal offense of forgery of a document under Article 412 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro. That verdict was confirmed by the Higher Court in Podgorica and became final in November of the same year.
IT WAS NOT A NEW PROCESS, BUT REHABILITATION
Premović did not specifically answer "Vijesti"'s questions regarding whether he used the document, for which he was convicted 12 years ago, during his career at the University of Montenegro, or whether the administrations of the Faculty of Philosophy and the University were aware of that verdict.
However, in response to the Media Center's statement, he stated that "under full material and criminal liability, I claim that "the aforementioned diploma with a technical error was not used anywhere during my working career". He also said that "immediately upon learning of the error in the diploma, I informed the Faculty of Philosophy in Niš and requested that they issue me a duplicate due to the technical error, and on their instructions, I destroyed the incorrect diploma and declared it invalid in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 94 of 10 December 12. On 2010 January 19, I was issued a new diploma".
In his response to "Vijesti", he was not precise about his diploma:
"In the criminal records of the Ministry of Justice, there is no information about my conviction - Prof. Dr. Marijan Premović, which is very easily proven, and in this regard, I am submitting to you two Certificates issued by the Ministry of Justice of Montenegro (No. 02/2-7441/16 of 14 December 12 and No. 2016/05-2-72/2913, of 19 March 15). I hereby give my consent to publish these certificates, but only in compliance with the Personal Data Protection Act, i.e. all personal data contained in these certificates, as well as the purpose for which these certificates were issued, must be protected," Premović replied.
He also warned that "any different interpretation of the data on my 'convictions' would constitute a violation of my professional integrity, reputation, honor, academic and personal dignity."
"This would cause me non-pecuniary damage in the form mentioned above, and in that situation I would be forced to protect my rights before the competent court. Article 52 of the Media Law stipulates that it is not permitted to publish information that violates honor and reputation, unless that information is accurate and of public interest, and I would also like to remind you of the obligation to respect the Code of Journalists of Montenegro," said Professor Premović.
Before submitting his response, during a meeting in the editorial office, he claimed that due to new circumstances the proceedings had been reopened and that he had been acquitted of the charges. When asked by journalists to submit the verdict, he said that he did not know where it was and that he would try to find it and submit it. Instead, a response was sent with attached certificates of non-conviction issued by the Ministry of Justice in 2016 and 2019.
When journalists subsequently reminded him in phone messages that he had said he would try to find the verdict by which, as he claims, he was acquitted in a retrial, and asked again whether he had that verdict or not, and if so, whether he could send it, Premović replied that "everything regarding convictions and non-convictions can be found in the certificates that I sent you." When asked that not everything can be found in certificates, because they are also obtained after legal and judicial rehabilitation, if there was a conviction, Premović did not respond.
The Criminal Procedure Code provides for the possibility of repeating a criminal proceeding that has been concluded with final judgment under certain conditions, including if “new facts are presented or new evidence is submitted that, by themselves or in connection with previous evidence, may lead to the acquittal of the person who was convicted or to his conviction under a more lenient criminal law”.
"Rehabilitation erases the conviction and all its legal consequences cease, and the convicted person is considered unconvicted," the Criminal Code states.
WHAT IS SAID IN THE JUDGMENTS?
According to the verdict, which was seen by "Vijesti", Premović was convicted in 2013 because in September 2010 he used a false public document - a diploma of completion of undergraduate studies at the Faculty of Philosophy in Niš - as evidence of his right when submitting documents regarding the advertisement of the Historical Institute of Montenegro for the position of researcher in the field of the Middle Ages, to which candidates who had completed undergraduate studies with an average grade of 8,5 or higher were eligible to apply. Premović, according to the verdict, knew that the content of the diploma was false, that is, that the information that he had completed undergraduate studies with an average grade of 8,78 had been falsely entered and that he had submitted it to an authorized person at the Institute, and was employed on the basis of it.
The verdict states that Premović told the court that when applying for the job, he submitted a diploma confirming his completed undergraduate studies, which included information about an average grade of 8,78.
"In his application for the competition, he did not refer to the average from his undergraduate studies, and he received his diploma four years after graduating in Niš and did not pay any attention to the content of the diploma and the average that was entered. The defendant stated that the faculty in Niš sent a letter dated 16 November 11, which shows that due to a technical error during the preparation of the diploma, the average grade was entered as 2010...", the verdict states.
The Basic Court in the proceedings established, which was not disputed between the parties, that the defendant submitted an application to the Historical Institute of Montenegro for a job advertisement for a researcher in the field of the Middle Ages, which included, among other things, a diploma on completed undergraduate studies, which stated that the defendant's average grade was 8,78 and that he was hired on that basis, but later, when it was determined that the average grade was incorrectly entered on the diploma (instead of 8,78, it was 7,78), the Institute annulled the decision because Premović did not meet the requirements of the competition. The court did not accept Premović's argument that he did not notice an error in his diploma, because, they claim, immediately after receiving the Institute's decision explicitly stating that he met all the requirements from the advertisement and had an average grade of 8,78, he would have had to report the error and request a correction, like any conscientious citizen, which he requested only when the Institute, deciding on the appeal of another candidate, delivered a decision to annul the decision on employment in 2011.
"That the defendant was very well aware of his average study grade and that it was a very important circumstance in the defendant's professional life is evident from the letter from the University of Sarajevo dated November 28, 11 and the letter dated March 2010, 26, which clearly establish that the defendant, upon enrolling in postgraduate studies at the Faculty in Sarajevo, had to both submit an application for a qualifying exam and take the exam before the Commission on December 3, 2012, given that the certificate issued to him by the Faculty in Niš stated that his average study grade was 25, thus completely denying the defendant's allegations that he had never taken any qualifying exam, either oral or written, and that his average grade from his undergraduate studies was not important to him," the verdict states.
The Basic Court imposed a security measure on Premović, confiscating the object, namely a certified photocopy of diploma No. 5260, as the object of the criminal offense. He was sentenced to a suspended sentence of six months in prison if he commits a new criminal offense within two years.
The Higher Court reversed the Basic Court's verdict with regard to the decision on the criminal sanction, and Premović was given a suspended sentence, which determines a prison sentence of 45 days if he commits a new criminal offense within two years.
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