Former Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Vesna Bratić has been ordered to be detained for up to 72 hours after being questioned by the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT).
This was announced to "Vijesti" by her defense attorney, attorney Mitar Šušić.
He pointed out that Bratić defended herself before the prosecutor that she had lawfully dismissed more than 100 school principals in 2021.
"She defended herself the same way the state defended itself, that she dismissed them according to the law because they did not fulfill their legal obligations, which is why they were dismissed," said Šušić.
Bratić was arrested earlier today in an investigation by the SDT.
Officers from the Special Police Department (SPO) arrested her this morning in Podgorica. She was taken to the "Limenka" building, where the SPO headquarters are located, after 11 a.m. She left the building after questioning at around 13 p.m.
"On the order of the Special State Prosecutor's Office, the Special Police Department in Podgorica deprived one person of his liberty, due to the existence of grounds for suspicion that he committed the criminal offense of abuse of official position. The Special State Prosecutor's Office will, after questioning the person deprived of his liberty as a suspect, inform the public about the further course of the procedure," the SDT announced.
Video: Ivana Vlaovic
Bratić was arrested in a separate investigation by the SDT, which is unrelated to this morning's arrest of former Director of the Property Administration Blaž Šaranović.
Vesna Bratić was elected Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports in the Government of Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapić in 2020.
In the first half of her term, she dismissed almost all school principals in Montenegro.
While the opposition, led by the Democratic Party of Socialists, claimed that the dismissals were political revenge, Bratić justified the dismissals in education by depoliticizing the education system, claiming that some of the dismissed directors "abused educational institutions for political purposes."
The opposition accused Vesna Bratić of appointing ideologically close personnel to replace the dismissed directors.
Due to the dismissal of the director, the former minister is not obliged to compensate the state for the damage caused after several trials and final verdicts that have been completed so far, because such is the first-instance verdict of Podgorica Basic Court judge Nikola Bošković.
The ruling from December last year states that the request to order Bratić to pay the state the amount of 15.281 euros as compensation for the damage the state suffered by paying litigation costs in proceedings based on the lawsuits of former directors is rejected.
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