An entrepreneur from Nikšić was sentenced last week to seven months in prison for forging a diploma from the Faculty of Economics in Subotica.
This is another in a series of first-instance verdicts imposing prison sentences for forging higher education documents, following a report by the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation (MESI).
According to the verdict of the Basic Court in Podgorica, in addition to a prison sentence for forging a document, the forty-year-old was also given the security measure of confiscating his diploma from the University of Novi Sad.
Although he claimed to prosecutors that he was a full-time student at the Faculty of Economics from 2010 to 2015, when he graduated, and that he did not need a degree because he was engaged in private business, he changed his statement at the main trial and pleaded guilty. He explained that he allegedly paid 4000-5000 euros for the degree, to a person who is now deceased, which is why, he claims, he did not want to reveal her identity.
The defendant submitted a request for validation to the Ministry of Education at the end of 2022, and it was rejected in April of the following year because a check at the Faculty of Economics in Subotica determined that the diploma was not authentic. The educational document states that he completed his first-degree academic studies in the Management study program, 240 ECTS credits, on September 29, 2015, with an average grade of 8.43, and it was verified in the Municipality of Nikšić.
"The court considered the fact that the defendant had a previous conviction, as evidenced by the criminal record, and the fact that this was a forgery of a university degree with which it is possible to perform serious jobs, both in the private and public sectors, as aggravating circumstances on the defendant's side, while the court found that there were no mitigating circumstances," the first-instance judge's verdict states. Borka Lončar.
The court did not accept the defendant's defense attorney's proposal to impose a criminal sanction, a large fine, community service, or a prison sentence to be served in residential premises, because it found that other, milder sanctions would not achieve the purpose of the punishment.
"First of all, general prevention would not be achieved and social condemnation of this crime would not be expressed, since the education system in this sense and abuses related to diplomas, especially
with university-level diplomas cannot get away with the mildest criminal sanctions,
precisely because of the influence on the defendant not to commit criminal acts anymore, as well as the influence on others not to
"commit the same or similar criminal acts. Acquiring university degrees in this way must be more strictly sanctioned for special and general prevention, because it is about protecting one of the most important pillars of any society," the verdict states.
The Ministry of National Education responded to "Vijesti" that the department, headed by Anđela Jakšić Stojanović, from the beginning of the year until yesterday, filed 88 criminal reports on suspicion of forgery of educational documents.
They said 12 criminal reports related to primary education level documents, and 69 to secondary education level documents. They filed seven criminal reports related to higher education level documents – one each from Ukraine, Moldova, Turkey, the United Kingdom and Poland, and two from Serbia.
The government has so far temporarily suspended the recognition of diplomas from seven higher education institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as from Sokolac and Tutin. An interdepartmental working group has also been formed, which has sent a request to all ministries and local government bodies to obtain and submit data on the qualifications of employees.
For "high school students" public service
First-instance courts generally impose community service for falsifying educational documents on acquired secondary education.
The Basic Court in Podgorica recently convicted a 23-year-old man who, in July last year, intended to validate a forged diploma of passing the final exam issued by the "Marija Kiki Sklodovska" High School in Skopje, with which he earned the title of laboratory technician.
He was sentenced to 240 hours of community service over a period of six months, and the verdict states that it will be replaced with prison time if he does not complete part or all of it – by assigning one day of prison time for every eight hours of work begun.
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