The Assembly Administrative Committee has not decided for half a year on the request of the Higher Prosecutor's Office to lift the immunity of the Mayor of Nikšić and MP Marko Kovačević.
The authorities do not want to talk about this topic, even though the Prosecutor's Office provided them with copies of the case files and an urgent request at the end of last year.
The opposition, on the other hand, says that they will raise this issue again after returning to parliament, but they do not believe that it will be discussed before the Nikšić elections, or even after them.
"If someone doesn't want us to be brothers, if someone wants to be more like Turks, then by God, in the future we will treat them like Turks."
Nine months have passed since this statement by the Mayor of Nikšić Municipality and New Serbian Democracy MP Marko Kovačević, and half a year since the Higher Prosecutor's Office requested the Administrative Committee of the Assembly to lift his immunity, in order to prosecute him for the criminal offense of inciting racial, religious and national hatred.
Kovačević still enjoys immunity, because the Committee did not even discuss its removal, with the explanation that the conditions need to be met - namely, that the prosecution provide them with the case files.
Committee President Jelena Nedović from the Europe Now Movement (PES) did not want to appear in front of the camera of Television Vijesti, stating that she had spoken on this topic several times.
"When the Prosecutor's Office delivers what is needed, to the parliament's address, it goes down to the Administrative Committee," Nedović said in the show Načisto on Television Vijesti on January 30, 2024.
But it did not go down, even though the prosecution, headed by Lepa Medenica, had submitted what was requested even before this statement.
"The Higher State Prosecutor's Office, at the request of the Administrative Board, submitted the requested copies of the files on 07.10.2024. Since the aforementioned letter from the prosecutor's office was not acted upon, an urgent request was sent on 17.12.2024. requesting that the aforementioned be acted upon, which has not been done to date," the Higher State Prosecutor's Office said.
Why, Television Vijesti also asked Democratic Montenegro, but even those who form the government with Kovačević in Nikšić are not in the mood to answer.
The opposition Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) says that this very serious issue should not be swept under the rug.
"I think this is a reflection of the current parliamentary majority's attitude towards the rule of law. In the meantime, we waited with this initiative for the elections in Nikšić, where that fellow MP is the leader of one of the lists, A, I will remind you that he is flagrantly violating the Law on the Prevention of Corruption and is at the same time an MP and the mayor of the municipality. So, whenever one of them mentions the rule of law, I ask the public to try to remember these two examples," said Mihailo Anđušić, DPS MP.
Anđušić notes that the lifting of immunity is just a way for everyone to defend themselves in a fair trial and says that the DPS, guided by this, has been removing the immunity of former colleagues, including Petar Ivanović, Dragica Sekulić, and Predrag Bošković.
He does not believe that the Committee will deal with Kovačević before April 13th.
"If it hasn't been found so far, I have enough reason to suspect that it will never be on the agenda at all. As deputy chairman of the Administrative Committee, I will do my best after our return to parliament to raise this issue once again."
The head of the Administrative Committee does not have permission from the head of the parliamentary majority, Andrij Mandić, to do something like this.
And, even if the committee decides on immunity, the final word should be given by the deputies in the plenary session. The fact that this is a slow process is best evidenced by the fact that for a year now, in the drawer of the Speaker of the Parliament Andrija Mandić, there has been a request to lift the immunity of Deputy Prime Minister Niko Đeljošaj in order to continue the legal proceedings against him.
Perhaps the message from the Supreme Prosecutor's Office will encourage those who make decisions to do so more quickly.
"The Supreme State Prosecutor's Office expects all competent institutions to ensure the smooth conduct of proceedings in the competent state prosecutor's offices by timely delivery of the requested information and making the necessary decisions," the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office said.
Although the government is bragging about the acquittal of the prosecution, it seems that it does not trust it enough to put its own officials under its scrutiny.
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