The Media Center today addressed the management boards of the Employers' Union of Montenegro (UPCG) and the University of Montenegro (UCG) in order, as stated by the director of that NGO, Goran Đurović, to "well-intentionedly draw their attention to the fact" that their previous representatives on the Radio and Television Council of Montenegro (RTCG) "have, through their actions, damaged the reputation and credibility of the organizations/institutions they represent", and that in the future they should be more careful about who they nominate to that body.
"The intention of this address is to draw attention to the need to nominate candidates with integrity to the management structures of institutions, because otherwise, damage is caused and suspicion is created that the institution itself is not acting independently but under political pressure or that someone is pursuing their personal interests through the RTCG Council," the Media Center's letters state.
"In the letter, the Media Center reminded that the representative of the Union of Montenegrins (UECG) on the RTCG Council, Filip Lazović, voted illegally three times in the previous four years for the election of the RTCG Director General Boris Raonić, and that the representative of the Union of Montenegrins (UECG) Bojan Baća did the same once, who later resigned from the Council. The Media Center believes that the new representative of the Union of Montenegrins (UECG) on the RTCG Council, Vladimir Drekalović, has continued this practice," said Đurović.
"If, however, it is otherwise, we call on the representative of the UCG, Vladimir Drekalović, to publicly announce that his ballot during the last election of Raonić was blank (i.e. invalid). The least that is expected of the representative of the UCG is that he has enough courage to publicly announce his position, i.e. whether he voted for Raonić to be elected to office illegally for the third time," the letter to the UCG Board of Directors reads.
The Media Center reminded the boards of directors of the MEF and the UCG that it had "persistently publicly warned" members of the RTCG Council that they were "entering the zone of criminal liability" if they voted for Boris Raonić to be the general director of the national public broadcaster, "since he never met the legal requirements for that position."
"The Media Center noted in its letters that two final and one first-instance verdict confirm that the representatives of the MEF and the UCG on the RTCG Council acted contrary to the law and that it is obvious that they did not do so out of ignorance, but for some other reasons that can be explained by personal interests or succumbing to political pressure," says Đurović.
The media center, he said, expressed hope that their letters would "stimulate debate" within the governing boards of the MEF and the University of Montenegro and result in "careful decisions in the future."
"The Media Center has also recommended to the attention of the Management Board of the Montenegrin Broadcasting Union the actions of their representative on the RTV Podgorica Council, Ms. Vesna Radulović, stating that it will soon file criminal charges against her and other members of this body for the same actions for which it previously filed criminal charges against members of the RTCG Council," the statement reads.
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