Today I found out that I have had the status of a suspect for two years and that the three prosecutors who acted in that case during that time did not do the basic thing - determine the merits of the criminal report.
This was stated by "Vijesti" journalist Jelena Jovanović after today's hearing at the Basic State Prosecutor's Office (ODT), adding that none of the three prosecutors in the case against her for alleged procedural violations, before deciding on the steps, established the basic fact - that the case against former Supreme Court President Vesna Medenica has been public since October 2022.
At that time, the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) filed an indictment against Medenica, and the texts for which the former director of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (ASK) Jelena Perović filed a criminal complaint against Jovanović were published in November 2023, a year later.
Jovanović was questioned today as a suspect, following a report previously filed against her by Perović.
Jelena Perović, accused of unlawful use of official position and causing damage to the state of Montenegro, filed a complaint claiming that the articles published by "Vijesti" in November 2023, authored by Jovanović, "violated the confidentiality of the proceedings."
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In November 2023, "Vijesti" published two texts that reported communication between Perović and Medenica, and whose author was Jovanović.
"Vijesti" then announced that Perović, as the former president of the Basic Court in Cetinje, had at one time, contrary to regulations, sought and received suggestions from Medenica on how to proceed in certain cases, as stated in the transcripts of their conversations, which are part of a case against the former president of the Supreme Court.
After the hearing, Jovanović told reporters today that it is concerning that none of the prosecutors have established that the case against Medenica has been public since October 2022, and that the texts that are the subject of the criminal complaint against Jovanović were published in November 2023.
"If they had done that as a first step, they would have dismissed the criminal complaint as unfounded. Unfortunately, they did not, but by assigning suspect status, they sided with the former judge, but also with all those who persecute and intimidate journalists and try to stifle media freedom," she said.
She stressed that it is clear to her "that this is being done by a former judge and former president of the Basic Court in Cetinje, who, in messages sent to Medenica, which we published, regrets the arrest of a member of an organized crime group accused of the attempted murder of investigative journalist Olivera Lakić, but it is unclear to me that she has the support of the prosecution in this."
Jovanović added that it is important for the healing of society that Perović filed a criminal complaint.
"Because by filing the complaint, she showed the level of legal ignorance of someone who had served as a judge for years and 'distributed justice'," Jovanović said after the hearing.
She emphasized that it was most important for those whose fates Perović had decided as a judge to find out.
"I also said that I was glad that she filed a criminal complaint, because despite claiming that the authenticity of the messages had not been proven, she confirmed in her report that she had written every letter, but also that she was afraid of the rest of the correspondence being disclosed. With her report, she also showed a basic ignorance of international standards when it comes to freedom of speech, but also that she would be happy to silence all free journalists, which she will not be able to do," she added.
Jovanović said that even though she was a participant in the proceedings, and even signed a confidentiality statement, she chose to report on what was in the public interest at all costs.
"A par excellence is the public interest in the way in which, despite their clearly defined mutual relations in the positions they held, the former president of the Cetinje court and the accused director of the ASK consulted with the then head of the judiciary during 2020 - whether to order detention or lift detention for someone, but also apologized for not accepting her plea agreement in one case, informed her who applied for which positions in the judiciary... Ultimately, I am glad that Perović showed such legal ignorance and I am convinced that this is a process that Montenegro must go through. This is healing and necessary, and despite the fact that I experience this exactly as it is - with pressure on media freedom, I believe that this is a filter that will help to clearly see who is mourning criminals in uniform, who would like Montenegrin female journalists to be killed and who not, as well as a test bubble for all those who fear the correspondence from the accused Medenica's phone," said the "Vijesti" journalist.
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