The Police Administration of Montenegro, led by Director Lazar Šćepanović, is hitting rock bottom and introducing a more than dangerous practice with a statement in the Montenegrin media - public and open institutional targeting of journalists who insist that the police respect the law and international standards, do their job and uncover and prosecute those who ordered and perpetrated intimidation and pressure on journalists, regardless of who they are, said journalist Vesna Radojević.
She was reacting to yesterday's statement from the Police Directorate, in which they claim that they acted legally and in a timely manner after Radojević reported in June last year that a helicopter had landed on her family estate in Pluzine and that she felt threatened because of it.
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Radojević said that the statement from the Police Directorate is not a denial in any way, but a dangerous attempt to institutionally discredit my human and journalistic credibility and normalize an unprecedented security incident - the landing of a military helicopter with civilians on board, in the private yard of a journalist who investigates and publicly exposes illegalities in projects worth hundreds of millions of euros.
"In Montenegro, a country that has been unable, or unwilling, to find out who killed the journalist and editor of Dan, Duško Jovanović, for 20 years, and which refuses to launch an adequate investigation into the 'Možura' affair, which is partly connected to the murder of Spanish journalist Dafna Caruana Galizia, this behavior of the police is more than dangerous and carries special weight. Instead of answering the questions of who is responsible for the security incident and prosecuting them, the Police Directorate is dealing with the decision of the Basic Prosecutor in Nikšić, Radoš Šoškić, that there is 'no criminal act' in the landing of a military helicopter in a private yard, without prior notice, approval and a safety assessment in accordance with clear flight rules. In its statement, the Police Directorate does not address the formal and substantive content of the text that it allegedly denies," Radojević states.
The journalist said that this statement by the Police Directorate is not just an attempt to discredit her as a journalist and the media she edits, but a public message to those who ordered and perpetrated intimidation that they are safe and protected by the police and their chief of staff.
"The statement from the Police Directorate is a public call to those who ordered me and the perpetrators to calmly continue with the 'warnings' so that I can get away from my journalistic and investigative work. The Director of the Police Directorate of Montenegro, Mr. Lazar Šćepanović, who likes to present himself in public as a 'top professional', knows very well where it will lead if I do not back down and succumb to pressure, and therefore I emphasize once again that, after numerous urgencies and requests for the police to protect me, which he ignored, he personally bears responsibility for my safety," she added.
Radojević claims that the Police Directorate is stating "a series of brutal lies" in its statement.
"The claim that 'all allegations are untrue' is a brutal lie. The claim that they informed me about the progress of the investigation is a brutal lie. The claim that they 'took all measures' is a brutal lie. The Police Directorate will have to provide evidence of everything said in court, and I will not deal with that here, because it would require too much space. The only truth is that the Police Directorate has not taken a single protection measure in eight months, has not requested a threat assessment, has not examined the security context and has not answered a single key question. The police and its director are trying to hide behind the decision of the basic prosecutor, even though it is publicly known - and legally indisputable - that the security protection of journalists has nothing to do with the criminal qualification of the event," she assessed.
The journalist said that it was scandalous that for eight months, the Montenegrin police had not even tried to determine, or rather, announce: who the civilians were who were in the military helicopter that landed in the yard of her family home, who ordered and approved the flight, in whose interest and for what purpose.
"These facts, the numerous urgent messages I sent, as well as the passage of time raise more than serious suspicion that the police did not accidentally fail to do what they are required to do by law and international standards, but that their leader, independently or under pressure and suggestions, made a decision not to act according to the law and thereby dangerously endangered my safety. The Police Directorate did not act on two other security reports that I submitted, which indicate that the helicopter incident was not a coincidence or an isolated case, but that there is a pattern and continuity.
Unlike the Police Directorate, I did my job: I investigated, documented and collected all the information and evidence about who requested and who ordered and approved the flight, who was in the helicopter, who requested the concealment of documentation and silence, and who from the political and security leadership requested that this case not be acted upon. The complete documentation is in a safe place with clear instructions in case anything happens to me. This, gentlemen from the Police Directorate and Mr. Šćepanović, is no longer my personal case. This is a test of whether the institutions in Montenegro protect journalists and the public interest - or protect the powerful, those who give orders and structures that abuse their position in order to conceal illegal actions," believes Radojević.
He says that the eight-month silence of the police was already dangerous, but that the statement that the Police Directorate released to the public is a direct threat by the police.
"As I recently announced, I have informed relevant international addresses about the case, with relevant context and data. I am now in a situation where not only do I not have the institutional protection of my country, but the Montenegrin police are sending a public message to criminals that I am a 'free target' and that the police will not take any action against those who threaten me," concluded Radojević.
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