Radović: Failure to comply with court rulings in the case of Boris Raonic does not contribute to the rule of law in any way

Non-compliance with final court judgments in the case of General Director of the Radio Television of Montenegro (RTCG) Boris Raonic does not in any way contribute to the general principle of the rule of law.

This was said by the president of the High Court, Zoran Radović, in a report broadcast on the program "Načisto" on Television Vijesti.

"The court made a number of decisions and it is up to those it refers to, the parties in the proceedings, the defendant in that proceeding to apply those decisions. It is not the first time that court decisions have not been acted upon, both in an earlier period and in a more recent one, so that, in my opinion, it in no way contributes to the general principle of the rule of law," said Radović.

"I would refer here to the last judgment of the High Court in Podgorica, where the judgment of the Basic Court in Podgorica was confirmed, and the second-instance court, dealing with the appeal, i.e. the reasons presented both in the first-instance judgment and in the appeal, says that 'according to the order of this court, and contrary to the claims of the appeal, the rule was decided by the first-instance court when it adopted the claim and annulled the disputed decision as illegal,'' Radović points out.

He then quoted the fourth paragraph from the fifth page of the verdict:

"Taking into account the aforementioned provisions, although the candidate Boris Raonic resigned from the Electronic Media Agency Council on August 13, 2021, the fact that he was a member of the aforementioned Council when submitting the application and that there was a conflict of interest, the same subsequent resignation could not be be eliminated, since for the evaluation of the fulfillment of the conditions, the factual situation that existed in relation to each of the registered candidates at the time of the announcement of the competition is relevant," said Radović.

And on the sixth page, in the first paragraph, the second-instance court reasons, Radović adds:

"The decision to dismiss Boris Raonic from the position of General Director of the Radio Television of Montenegro at his own request is not relevant in this legal matter because the court dealt with the legality of the decision from June 1, 2023, which is the subject of the appeal procedure."

Radović believes that the court made a decisive decision on this point.

When asked by the editor and author of the show "Načisto" Petar Komnenić whether the court's decisions were a clear legal instruction to the members of the RTCG Council what to do, Radović says:

"This judgment that I quoted is very clear, what our great legislator and creator of the General Property Law for the Principality of Montenegro, Valtazar Bogišić, would have said: 'If a hump is born, time will not correct it'".

To Komnenić's question that the Government was silent about this, and what does it mean for the rule of law that Prime Minister Milojko Spajić said that the Labor Inspectorate determined that everything was in order, completely ignoring the final verdicts of the Montenegrin courts, Radović said that Spajić is not a lawyer and that does not know enough about the subject.

"That question should be asked of his advisors," concluded Radović.