Marković: Attempts are being made to disrupt the unity of the prosecution, the incident in Zabjelo has not yet received a final qualification

Supreme State Prosecutor Milorad Marković said that attempts are being made to disrupt the unity of the prosecution in order to place it under the control of some parliamentary parties. In the show "Načisto", he identified the coalition For the Future of Montenegro and the Democratic Party of Socialists as political actors who are dominant in these attempts to, as he said, delegitimize the work of the prosecution, and assessed that those who want his dismissal also want Vladimir Novović to no longer be the Chief Special Prosecutor.

Speaking about the alleged attack by foreign nationals on a young man in the Podgorica neighborhood of Zabjelo last Sunday, which sparked protests and a series of incidents in the previous days, Marković said that the final qualification of what happened that dinner has not yet been determined, and that he believes that the prosecution will determine all the precise information in the next day or two.

After the Parliament failed to adopt the Report on the Work of the Prosecutor's Office, with numerous criticisms against him, Marković was asked whether such a dramatic drop in support in parliament delegitimizes him.

"I am sure that it does not delegitimize me, considering the reasons for a certain part of the parliament not to vote, primarily the DPS and part of the majority of the coalition For the Future of Montenegro. I think, on the contrary, that it gives me full legitimacy, because it was precisely at that session that it was clearly demonstrated that the Montenegrin prosecution is in the full sense of the word independent, self-sufficient and autonomous. There was no vote on the annual report of the state prosecution, so as to see whether I had fulfilled my obligations, but rather there was a clear position of that part of the parliament that it wanted to have some direct or indirect control over the prosecution," Marković replied.

He added that at that session of the Parliament there was not an attempt to delegitimize him, but rather the entire prosecution service, including the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT).

"This is about clear pressure on the work of the prosecution, where in some way the unity of the prosecution is being disrupted, to present that one part of the prosecution is working, while I am not working in the domain of cases that are not within my jurisdiction. I think the ultimate goal is for the state prosecution to be dependent, under control, delegitimized and to be presented as a prosecution that is selective, that does not work enough, when in fact you have completely different figures, a different picture... The goal is for me not to be the VDP, but also for Novović not to be the Chief Special Prosecutor," Marković assessed.

When asked who wanted to put him under control, the Supreme State Prosecutor replied that the Speaker of the Parliament Andrija Mandić spoke about specific cases, requested that certain cases and people be prosecuted, or not prosecuted.

"And we do not work based on anyone's expectations. In the very speech in which he demanded my resignation, he indicated that his nephew should not have been prosecuted. That is a clear message that we should not act in certain cases," said Marković.

He assessed that the statements we heard in the Parliament indicate that the prosecution is causing political damage to certain political currents.

"Regarding Sky Communications, only part of the material has been processed. There are also certain devices that have been seized in the meantime, which also need to be processed. We can assume what the real reasons are for such a relationship between part of the opposition and part of the government, but the key is to make the state prosecutor's office dependent and tarnish its reputation," the VDT emphasized.

When asked what his relationship with Novović was, Marković said that GST has his full support.

Responding to the question of whether he met with or promised anything to Mandić before his election to the position of Supreme Prosecutor, Marković said that he did not meet with anyone in the sense of any negotiation about my election or promising anything.

Marković also referred to the case of Danilo Mandić, saying that the Basic State Prosecutor's Office (ODT) in Podgorica submitted the case files to the Internal Control of the Ministry of the Interior in order to review why the Police Directorate was late in notifying the ODT and then the Higher State Prosecutor's Office in that case, and to determine whether there were any omissions at the level of disciplinary responsibility.

He said that the police contacted the ODT four hours after the incident, and the Higher State Prosecutor's Office three hours after that, but he also pointed out that this case cannot be taken as a benchmark when talking about the quality of cooperation between the prosecutor's office and the police.

Marković believes that the prosecution acted promptly in the case of the confiscation of the monument to Pavle Đurišić.

"Having already filed an indictment and made a proposal to seize the object of the commission of that criminal offense, the state prosecutor's office cannot do more than that in accordance with the law," he pointed out.

Speaking about a series of incidents across Montenegro that occurred after the alleged attack by foreign citizens on a young man in Podgorica, Marković said that the prosecution has already opened several cases for causing general danger, violent behavior, and also inciting national, religious and racial hatred.

"The prosecution has given a binding instruction to the police to collect evidence, both in the case of the attack on the young man in Podgorica, and in all other events that occurred in connection with it. In most cases, we have suspects, we have the first indictment related to inciting national, religious and racial hatred," he added.

The Supreme Prosecutor's Office said that creating an atmosphere conducive to hate speech cannot be the exclusive burden of the prosecution.

He was asked whether the prosecution had determined what happened the night the incident in Zabjelo occurred.

"Now the case is in the hands of the Higher, not the Basic State Prosecutor's Office, an order has been issued to the expert witness to report on the type of injuries involved. The qualification of this act is not yet final. I believe that all precise information will be determined in the next 24 to 48 hours. As a prosecutor's office, we never come out with information for which we do not have clear evidence. The role of Montenegrin citizens is also being determined. The qualification has not yet been definitively determined," he said.

When asked why he did not appear at the control hearing regarding the statute of limitations in the Telekom case, Marković said that "calling for control hearings regarding specific cases is contrary to the law and the Constitution." He pointed out that the statute of limitations in the Telekom case occurred before he was elected as the Supreme Prosecutor General, and Novović as the Supreme Prosecutor General.