Minister of Justice Andrej Milović he refused to extradite Biennale of Camgoza - a Turkish citizen wanted for a double murder, justifying its decision by the foreigner's impaired health and ethnicity, even though the High Court established on June 1, 2023 that the conditions for the extradition of that accused for the most serious crimes were met...
Camgoz was recently released from the Spuša prison, so now he is being guarded by several policemen with long pipes in the Reception Center for Foreigners, who occasionally, with strong security measures, take him to the Clinical Center in Podgorica for an examination. This, they claim, puts an additional burden on the work of employed medics.
For days, the Police Administration has been silent on questions about why they provide the highest level of security to a Turkish citizen, who is reputed to be the leader of an organized criminal group, and from whom he is in danger.
In the past two months, Camgoz was conducted by the police three times from Spuž to the Clinical Center in Podgorica, and before, during and after the inspection, parts of the city were practically paralyzed - from Danilovgrad to the capital, traffic was blocked, and the largest health facility was staffed at the time Anti-terrorist units, armed with rifles with optical sights... The police then monitor all intersections and connecting roads on the route by which they escort the foreigner.
The last time they took him to the hospital was after midnight, and that's when they blocked the road from Spuž to KBC. That route was impossible to pass until it was returned from inspection.
At the doctor's with a sniper
Citizens who have witnessed the implementation of Camgoz several times claim that the Clinical Center was also "examined" before he arrived at that health facility, that members of the Anti-Terrorist Unit (PTJ) were each time on the roof and terraces armed with rifles with optical sights, that the parking lot in front of that hospital was empty...
Sources from the Police Administration claim that such security measures were provided only in cases when the President of Turkey visited Montenegro Recep Tayyip Erdogan and former Vice President of the United States of America Mike Pens.
On July 6, 2022, Camgoz was arrested in Podgorica, and the Police Department announced at the time that he had a forged passport with his name written on it Mehmet Ali Bayhan.
Five other Turkish citizens were detained with him, and the Turkish media then announced that they were also wanted by their authorities.
Camgoz is allegedly the leader of an organized criminal group, and according to the Turkish media, his criminal record includes various crimes, murder, wounding, kidnapping, detention, extortion and torture committed in Izmir and its surroundings, illegal collection of checks and bonds...
In October 2021, the Turkish police launched an operation to arrest members of his criminal group, but Camgoz was already safe in Georgia. Members of the Police Administration of Izmir province, that is, their Department for the fight against organized crime, had 57 members of Camgoz's gang on the list for arrest that day.
They arrested 35, and Camgoz and 21 other members of that clan escaped arrest.
In September 2022, the cell in which he was staying with five other members of the organized criminal group the Kavački Clan was searched in the Investigation Prison in Spuz.
This was done only a few days after the Turkish police determined that members of the Camgoza criminal clan participated in the murder of the absolute leader of the Skaljar clan. Jovan Vukotić.
Extradition refused yesterday
By the decision of the Minister of Justice, the request of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Turkey for the extradition of Turkish citizen Binali Camgoz to that country was rejected, the department headed by Milović told "Vijesta" yesterday.
They also explain that they made the decision referring to Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which was judged to be violated by extradition, as well as the medical condition established by the forensic medical expert.
"During the extradition procedure, data was collected indicating that in this particular case it could be persecution based on ethnic and religious affiliation, because it is about a person who is a member of the Kurdish community and a Shia Muslim, and a person whose family member (son) is died as a result of the circumstances caused by the actions of the security authorities of the Republic of Turkey, which is a fact established by the judgment of the Constitutional Court there. Furthermore, a medical examination in Montenegro confirmed that this person is immobile, more precisely, he has been a paraplegic for fifteen years, which all previous findings in the health reports of the Turkish institutions were confirmed," reads the reply from the Ministry of Justice.
NCB Interpol Ankara, however, is looking for Camgoza for the commission of criminal offenses of organized crime and the creation of a criminal organization, and according to the information of "Vijesti", before the request was acted upon by the Interpol office in Podgorica, the request of NCB Interpol Ankara passed a regular check of compliance with the Interpol Statute and the Rules on Issuing Arrest Warrants.
According to the Statute and Rules, the Interpol Central Bureau can only issue warrants that comply with all relevant Interpol legal regulations. For example, a warrant will not be published if it violates the Interpol Statute, which prohibits the organization from undertaking activities of a political, military, religious or racial nature, i.e. they have the right to refuse to issue warrants to the NCBs of member countries.
In the period 2018-2022, according to the information of the London "Guardian", the Interpol Central Bureau rejected over 800 requests for the issuance of a red Interpol warrant, and the warrant for Camgoz was confirmed in the same period, from which it follows that he is not charged with political crimes, nor that it is a question of political persecution.
Turkey requested the extradition of Camgoz for creating a criminal organization, causing injury, threats, violation of firearms laws, causing damage, robbery, attempted murder...
On June 1, 2023, the High Court found that the legal prerequisites for the extradition of Camgoz to the competent authorities of Turkey were met.
Milović also claims that the extradition of Camgoz to the European Court of Human Rights would cause material and political damage to Montenegro: "In the form of jeopardizing the assessment of the rule of law under Chapter 23 in Montenegro, as a country that is the most serious candidate for the next EU membership."
In the decision of the Minister of Justice, which "Vijesti" had access to, it is written that the court determined that Camgoz is not a Montenegrin citizen, that the criminal offense was not committed on the territory of Montenegro, against it or its citizen, that the criminal offenses for which extradition is requested also incriminated by Montenegrin legislation as the creation of a criminal organization, grievous bodily harm, endangering safety, destruction and damage to other people's property, murder, illegal possession of weapons and explosive materials...
"The crime for which extradition is sought is not a political crime or an offense related to a political crime, nor is it a military crime," the High Court concluded, after which Camgoz's attorneys, lawyers Marko Radovic i Bojana Franović wrote to the Minister of Justice.
The representatives of Camgoz demanded that Montenegro not extradite him to Turkey, claiming that he is a Kurd by ethnicity, and a Shiite Muslim by religion, that he is a member of the People's Democratic Party, and that it is common knowledge that these groups receive inadequate treatment in the Republic of Turkey.
They also wrote that Camgoz tried to establish the responsibility of the Turkish police for the death of his son, that he has a well-founded fear of political persecution in his country of origin, and they submitted the decision of the Constitutional Court of Turkey, in which the responsibility of the police officers was determined for the event in which his son died. son, medical documentation from which it follows that it was a person with a bad health condition.
Protecting Camgoz or the country?
Milović's department said that a medical examination in Montenegro established that Camgoz has been a paraplegic for 15 years, that he suffers from a neurogenic bladder and amputation of his lower limbs...
"Which represents traumatic diseases caused by an injury to the lumbar part of the spinal cord caused by the impact of a projectile from a firearm in 2008... Therefore, it is a person who has very serious and complicated health problems, and a person for whom it was estimated that giving wrong therapies or missing the therapy that he has to take every day led to his death... All of the above testifies to the fact that this is a person whose chronic poor health condition implies constant care and supervision, which cannot be adequately provided in prison conditions," they answered from Ministry of Justice.
They also explain that Milović made the decision to refuse extradition, estimating that doing otherwise would cause harm to Montenegro:
"That the proceedings before the European Court of Human Rights, which the accused person through the defense attorneys initially initiated and expressed the intention to formally initiate those proceedings in the event of a decision on extradition, would result in the adoption of the same decision that the minister made, and that the extradition of the person without enabling undertaking protection before the European Court of Human Rights caused both material and political damage for Montenegro in the form of jeopardizing the assessment of the rule of law under Chapter 23 in Montenegro, as a country that is the most serious candidate for the next EU membership".
All at the expense of citizens
Answering questions about Camgoz, the Clinical Center of Montenegro said that "in order to provide emergency medical assistance, a foreign citizen was brought from the Podgorica Reception Center for Foreigners three times in the last two months with the highest security measures of the Police Administration and with the logistical support of the KCCG Security Service. "
"The care of detained persons in our institution always puts an additional burden on the work of all employees, especially when it comes to persons with a high security risk. Security measures for these persons and the facilities to which they are brought, in the specific case of the KCCG, are organized and implemented by the Police Directorate," they said. from that health institution.
When asked who pays for Camgoz treatment, they said that for all persons who are in the Reception Center for Foreigners, the costs of treatment are borne by the Health Insurance Fund of Montenegro.
He avoided extradition with false documents
Turkish and Montenegrin state authorities also met several times in January to consider the extradition of Camgoz, and then it was stated that the Turk would use every possible solution, ie false documents, to prevent extradition.
According to the knowledge of "Vijesti", evidence was also submitted at those meetings that no investigation was conducted in relation to the connections of Camgoz with the terrorist organization FETO/PDY, which is allegedly one of the models by which he tried to stay in Montenegro.
It was also established that there is no prosecutor in Turkey who sent the letter on December 8, 2023, in which it is written that Camgoz was unfairly accused solely because of his membership in the terrorist organization FETO/PDY.
"The results of the checks carried out by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Turkey on the above-mentioned person who presented himself as a prosecutor, confirmed that there is no prosecutor with that name and surname, and that the so-called 'arrest warrant' is fake... Incorrect information and the documents were sent to be used during the extradition procedure of the said person to Turkey".
How he improved cooperation in the field of extradition
At the beginning of November 2023, Milović met with the ambassador of Turkey, Bariša Kalkavan, after which it was announced that there is significant potential for improving cooperation between the two countries, with a special focus on the field of extradition.
"With an emphasis on members of criminal groups. The minister informed the ambassador about the great challenges facing the Montenegrin judiciary, emphasizing the poor working conditions, stating that one of the main goals of the government is to improve the judicial infrastructure, which will require between 100 and 200 million euros ", it is stated in the statement published at the time.
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