The Media Center filed an appeal with the Administrative Court against the decision of the Council of the Agency for Personal Data Protection (SAZLP), which, as stated by the President of the Assembly of that NGO, Dragoljub Vuković, essentially puts pressure on the Media Center not to do its job and to question the legality of the work of institutions and public officials.
"This behavior of the SAZLP is proof that the key governing body of this institution, which should be independent in its work, is under the influence of interest groups and political entities. The Media Center therefore publicly calls on the Parliament of Montenegro to make the necessary legal changes and elect a new SAZLP because the current members of this body are under political and interest-based influence that renders their actions meaningless," the statement reads.
"An example of interest ties and political influence is best reflected in the implementation of procedures in which the Media Center is subject to constant pressure simply because it sent an initiative to the City RTV Podgorica Council in March of this year to review whether there is a basis for the dismissal of the member of the City RTV Council, Marijan Premović, because in 2013 he was finally convicted of the criminal offense of forging a document under Article 412 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro. The procedure for appointing members of the City RTV Council implies that candidates cannot be appointed if they have committed criminal offenses that make them unworthy of performing public office, and when running for office they are required to confirm in a statement that they have not been finally convicted of criminal offenses. With its initiative, the Media Center called on the RTV Podgorica Council, as an authorized body, in the procedure prescribed by the Decision on the Establishment of RTV Podgorica, to establish the facts and initiate the procedure for the dismissal of Marijan Premović only if it is shown that there is a legal basis," said Vuković.
When launching the initiative, as he said, the Media Center published an anonymously obtained verdict of the High Court, the authenticity of which it had previously checked in the verdict database, available on the Supreme Court website.
"After launching the initiative, the persecution of the Media Center by the SAZLP began under the influence of a member of the Council of the City RTV Podgorica and other interested persons, with the aim of prohibiting at all costs any public reference to the fact that Marijan Premović had been finally convicted of the criminal offense in question. The SAZLP issued a decision according to which the Media Center, before launching the initiative and publishing the final verdict, had to check whether, in the meantime, Marijan Premović had been rehabilitated, i.e. whether he had been erased from the criminal record after a certain period of time (serving the sentence)," says Vuković.
The Personal Data Protection Agency, he said, has twice requested a statement from the Media Center, asking "meaningless questions and exerting pressure that was, I guess, supposed to dissuade us from further questioning the work of the institutions and the legality of the procedures implemented."
"In the second-instance proceedings, the SAZLP did not want to acknowledge the fact that the Media Center did not have nor should have had information that the perpetrator of the criminal offense, Marijan Premović, had been rehabilitated. It is precisely for these reasons that the Media Center did not even communicate with the person who is the subject of the published verdict, which is what part of the SAZPL persistently insists on," adds Vuković.
He says that SAZLP has been trying for months to determine where Media Center got the Supreme Court ruling from, "refusing to accept the fact that the ruling should have been available to the public" before being published by Media Center, as the public could have had access to it through the court's website, as well as through "possible dissemination by the parties in the proceedings, lawyers and all those who had contact with this case."
"Based on the Law on the Protection of Personal Data, even if Media Center had (and did not have) information about the rehabilitation of the perpetrator of the criminal offense Marijan Premović, Media Center had the legal right to publish data without the consent of the person if this is necessary for the performance of tasks of public interest. Media Center, as a non-governmental organization, among other things, deals with the issue of the legality of the work of public broadcasters, which includes monitoring the work of RTV Podgorica. Media Center, believing that it is performing a task of public interest, published the verdict in order to draw public attention to a possible violation of the procedures for appointing members of the RTV Podgorica Council," Vuković points out.
The Media Center believes that the public's interest in knowing and being informed about the work of institutions founded by the state or a local self-government unit is overriding, rather than potentially damaging the reputation of public officials.
"In its attack on the Media Center, the SAZLP also ignores the practice of the European Court of Human Rights, which has taken the position that the participation of non-governmental organizations in public debate is protected by Article 10 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which relates to freedom of expression. The SAZLP wants to limit freedom of expression and stop NGOs from publicly disclosing information from the private lives of public officials that is related to the performance of public office," claims Vuković.
He also believes that SAZLP wants to force Media Center not to mention Marijan Premović's name "nor the fact that he once committed a criminal offense." "Even when the perpetrator of a criminal offense is rehabilitated, the memory of the committed criminal offense cannot be forgotten and forbidden. The rehabilitation of the perpetrator of a criminal offense means that the consequences for the perpetrator cease, but it does not mean that details from the past of a public official cannot be discussed," Vuković notes.
He believes that all the actions of the majority of SAZLP members in this case indicate "politically and personally motivated actions towards the director of the Media Center". "This is also proven by the change of opinion of the acting controller who drew up the first Minutes on the supervision carried out, which was changed by Muhamed Gjokaj (as an unauthorized person), a former SAZLP member whose only recommendation for that position was his DPS membership card", says Vuković.
The decision of the SAZLP, which Media Center challenged before the Administrative Court, Vuković believes, is an attempt to shift the responsibility of the one who "performed an act prohibited by law (forgery of public documents)" to "the one who protects the public interest by disclosing information that calls into question the work of public institutions."
"Two members of the SAZLP had to, in accordance with the AZLP Code of Ethics, be excluded from voting on the solution as well as from the entire procedure, because in previous years they held positions and had actions that clearly indicate intentions to cause damage to the Media Center and the director of this NGO and take revenge for the loss of positions of their closest relatives and criticism of related persons. The current president of the SAZLP Željko Rutović was the Assistant Minister of Culture for Media in the Government of Montenegro from 2003-2020 and the General Director of the Directorate for Media in the Government of Montenegro. Also, Željko Rutović was a long-time member of the Main Board of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS). During his tenure at the Ministry of Culture and Media, Rutović was constantly criticized by the director of the Media Center for his harmful actions in the field of media. The party of which he was a member and official was regularly criticized by the director of the Media Center. Also, Željko Rutović's sister, Radojka Rutović, was the director of TVCG during the period when the director of the Media Center was a member of the Council "RTCG. As a member of the RTCG Council, the Director of the Media Center is directly responsible for the fact that Radojka Rutović, as a DPS candidate, was not elected as the Director General of RTCG in March 2017, but Andrijana Kadija was elected to that position," Vuković reminds.
They believe that this is Željko Rutović's motive to "exploit this proceeding for revenge, selectively and biasedly interpreting the regulations."
"Zoran Vujičić, a member of SAZLP, has been engaged in the NGO Civic Alliance since 2012 as the coordinator of the human rights and justice program, and later, since 2021, as the deputy program director of this NGO. The director of the Civic Alliance until August 2021 was Boris Raonić, the illegally elected director general of RTCG (according to final judgments). The illegal appointment of the director general of RTCG has been the subject of criticism by the Media Center from the very beginning of the 2021 proceedings. There is no doubt that Zoran Vujićić, a member of SAZLP, is acting under the influence of his former director Raonić," Vuković states.
This is best proven, as he said, by the "ignorance of all complaints" from Media Center that it submitted to the AZLP, regarding RTCG's refusal to provide data on its operations to that NGO, based on the Law on Free Access to Information.
"The SAZLP remained silent on Media Center's appeals and did not make any decisions in the second-instance proceedings, thus protecting the director of RTCG. Also, the SAZLP ignored the Media Center's request for access to information, directly addressed to the AZLP, which referred to the submission of data regarding the work of this institution. The fact that Zoran Vujičić, a member of the SAZLP, cares more about his former organization, the Civic Alliance, than about fulfilling obligations under Media Center's requests and complaints is also evidenced by the fact that Pavle Ćupić, a long-time colleague of Vujičić's from the Civic Alliance and president of the Council of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption, has recently been employed by the AZLP," said Vuković.
He also says that "the interest-political group that controls SAZLP" wants to use pressure to limit the public activities of the Media Center and "take revenge for public criticism."
"The shameful actions of the privatized SAZLP can only be stopped by electing new members of the Council and amending the law that will enable people with integrity to hold these responsible public positions, not influence peddlers and frustrated former DPS party officials," the statement reads.
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