Director of the non-governmental organization Media Center and former member of the Radio and Television Council of Montenegro (RTCG) Goran Đurović believes that this body will ignore the new verdict of the Basic Court in Podgorica on the new illegal appointment Boris Raonic for the general manager because he is under full political influence.
"Neither the Judicial Council, nor the State Prosecutor's Office, nor the Prosecutor's Council have worried about non-compliance with court rulings. Nobody cares about the criminal charges against members of the Council and Raonic, who knowingly violate court rulings. It seems that all political parties are comfortable with the illegally appointed Raonic because they can blackmail him and easily control him," Đurović told "Vijesti".
The basic court in Podgorica found that Boris Raonic was illegally elected as the general director of Radio Television of Montenegro (RTCG) in June last year.
The decision to re-appoint Raonic was overturned following a lawsuit filed by the director of Radio Television (RTV) Nikšić Nikola Marković, and the public service was ordered to re-appoint the general director according to the conditions of the public competition from June 2021, within 15 days of the judgment becoming final.
Vice President of the RTCG Council Marijana Camović Veličković on Monday, she asked her colleagues to convene an emergency session to discuss the topic. Her initiative was supported by two colleagues - Predrag Marsenić i Predrag Miranović, which created the conditions to schedule a session in accordance with the Rules of Procedure of the Council. According to those Rules of Procedure, the session is scheduled at the proposal of at least three members of the Council.
However, Camović Veličković said that the president of the Council Veselin Drljević refuses to schedule a meeting and proposes a closed meeting for Friday.
It was announced on the public service portal the day before yesterday that RTCG will file an appeal against the decision of the Basic Court, and Camović Veličković assessed that the decision to file an appeal can only be made by the Council, by whose decision Raonic was illegally elected director for the second time.
Đurović believes that, thanks to his political mentors, Raonic will very possibly go down in history as a public official who brought the entire four-year term to an end despite final court rulings that unequivocally indicate that he was appointed in violation of the law in August 2021, and then for a second time. road in June 2023.
"When one day Raonic ends his illegal mandate, the damage of over 170.000 euros that he received for his wages will remain, which will never be returned to the citizens. It remains to be seen how much the damages for the annulment of the decisions he made, which will be brought by the employees before the regular courts, will be. This process indicates what should concern the citizens of Montenegro the most, namely that the political parties of the government and the opposition are absolutely not interested in the rule of law if it harms their imagined party interests. This situation also shows how inadequate the majority of party leaders are for the work they do, because they probably think that some other, legally appointed, independent and professional director general will deny the right of party representatives to appear in news programs," he said.
Đurović claims that even after three changes of government in the previous four years, politicians did not understand that RTCG only benefits citizens if it is professional and criticizes any government when it does not do its job well.
"If they do know that, then the conclusion is even more terrible, which is that they don't even care about the interests of the citizens, but only to keep the megaphone for communicating the party's interests (which are often contrary to the interests of the citizens), and the fact that there is no monitoring and criticism in the RTCG broadcasts failure of any government (from the 42nd to the 44th government and all local self-governments), is not a concern for them," said Đurović.
He pointed out that those who exercise power know very well that they must not and cannot criticize the RTCG, headed by an illegally appointed director.
"No one is afraid of such a public media service, which means that it cannot fulfill its controlling role in society. This also means that citizens pay over 20 million euros annually so that the parties can say whatever they want and that no one seriously questions their work or the work of institutions, the Government, local self-governments..." he assessed.
In the explanation of the verdict, the Basic Court states that when making the aforementioned decision, the defendant was obliged to assess the factual situation, which derives from the documentation submitted by the candidates for the public competition in question during the first application, and exclusively the factual situation that is in relation to each of the candidates existed at the time of the announcement of the competition.
"At the time of the announcement of the public competition in question, Boris Raonić, at the time of application for the public competition and appointment as general director, was a member of the Council of the Agency for Electronic Media (SAEM), i.e. he was a public official appointed by the Parliament, which is contrary to by provision of Art. 29 st. 1 point. 2 of the Law on the National Public Broadcaster RTCG", the explanation reads.
It is stated that this provision stipulates that members of the Council cannot be persons elected, appointed or appointed by the President, the Assembly and the Government.
In the explanation of the verdict, among other things, it is written that it is obvious that the defendant did not properly apply the legally established factual situation that resulted in the High Court's verdict from May last year, so he again, illegally, appointed Raonic.
"... If it was once determined that Boris Raonic does not meet the conditions to be appointed to the mentioned position..., and it was determined by a final judgment of this court, then that determination should bind the defendant when making a new decision on the same Public Competition", states the Basic Court.
New laws are the only salvation for the professionalization of RTCG
Đurović pointed out that the imminent adoption of new media laws in the Parliament and their implementation is the only hope to end the agony with disrespect of court rulings and the final beginning of the professionalization of the public service.
"The draft of the new Law on RTCG foresees a different process for appointing members of the RTCG Council, which should reduce the inappropriate influence of political parties on the election of members of this body. If the current parliamentary majority decides not to shorten the mandate of the current members of the Council and the general director by force of law, then it will be another indicator that RTCG is still under strong party influence. All previous decisions of the political elite (except for the amendment of the Law on the State Prosecutor's Office) indicate that they have no will to do anything serious that can lead to the liberation of institutions from party influence", concluded Đurović.
If they know this, then the conclusion is even more terrible, which is that they do not even care about the interests of the citizens, but only to keep the megaphone for communicating party interests (which are often contrary to the interests of the citizens), and the fact that there is no monitoring and criticism in the RTCG broadcasts failure of any government (from the 42nd to the 44th government and all local self-governments), is not a concern for them", said Đurović
Tomović: If they elect him again, the Council will judge for itself
Nikola Marković's attorney, lawyer Dalibor Tomović, told "Vijesta" that he asked the court in the lawsuit to "put an end to the manipulation of RTCG judgments, namely that the Council cannot at all consider Raonica in the re-selection of candidates for the 2021 competition ".
"The court is of the opinion that it cannot do that, the Council must, but that the Council is obliged to respect the instructions from the verdict and to eliminate Raonic in the re-election. In my opinion, the court could have adopted that part as well, because it is a conflict of interest with Raonic, determined by a final judgment in the previous procedure, which means that he has already been eliminated. If he were to be elected again, the Council would definitely judge itself in terms of criminal responsibility," said Tomović.
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