SDT to prosecute Bratić and associates for the dismissal of the director

The Center for Civic Education (CGO) submitted, along with part of the evidence, to the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) a criminal complaint against the former management of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports (MPNKS), headed by Vesna Bratić, for organized abuse of official position. in the way that they illegally dismissed the directors of educational institutions in 2021, and which has so far produced damage based on the Government's estimate of around 300,000 euros for the Budget of Montenegro. This was announced by Snežana Kaluđerović, senior legal advisor at CGO.

"The damage was caused by the actions of the then management of MPNKS, which carried out an unprecedented process of massive dismissal of the directors of public education institutions, which resulted in over 150 lawsuits filed by those directors as injured parties. So far, around 60 final verdicts have been handed down, which confirm that these people were fired in 2021 in violation of the law," the announcement states.

According to the data of the current management of the Ministry of Education, which were presented on December 22, 2022 at the Government session, this damage will reach the amount of about 300,000 euros only for the completed procedures, and many are still ongoing and the damage will increase as the procedures are completed, and according to the established judicial practice that confirms the illegality of the dismissal.

CGO indicates that the General Law on Education should ensure independent and impartial treatment during the election and dismissal of directors of public educational institutions.

"However, in practice, numerous cases were noted in which the spirit of this law was not respected during the work of all previous governments. This gained momentum with the amendments to the General Law on Education, from June 2021, which served as the basis for the controversial dismissal of directors in over 220 public educational institutions and the election and employment of new directors," the announcement states.

As this was preceded by the change of the decades-long government in Montenegro, according to Kaluđerović, the intention of the Minister of Education at the time to dismiss the directors of public institutions of education and upbringing only because they were appointed by the previous government was noticeable.

"And in order to benefit the representatives of the new government, including Bratić herself, who strengthened her position on the part of the public sympathetic to these political structures," the announcement states.

CGO notes that this was not preceded by any individual assessment of their work, which was also expressed in the examples of dismissal of deceased persons.

"This induced the initiation of more than 157 court proceedings by the dismissed directors, which was also reported by Bratić, answering a parliamentary question in November 2021. Soon, the first first-instance court decisions began to arrive, and now dozens of final judgments in favor of the injured parties, with the tendency that in accordance with the established judicial practice, all disputes of the injured directors, resulting from the illegal and non-transparent process of dismissal, will be concluded in their favor", says Kaluđerovića.

The Protector of Property Legal Interests has announced recourse lawsuits against all those who, by exercising public authority, caused damages and future court proceedings, which CGO welcomes.

"It is important to note that the management of the then Ministry was publicly warned by numerous actors, including the CGO, that the process of the announced mass dismissal would be illegal. This indicates that the minister and her colleagues have consciously and organized abused their official position through a series of actions, which is why they are directly responsible for the resulting damage," she said.

Bearing in mind that element of organization in the illegal dismissal of the director, as well as the scope of the damage, which is all confirmed by the final judgments, the CGE appreciates that the SDT is the institution that should process this case.

"The CGO also reminds that this is the second criminal complaint that the CGO submitted to the SDT against the former management of the MPKNS. The first refers to the findings from the double negative opinion of the State Audit Institution (DRI) on the manner of financial management in that Ministry by the responsible persons, and based on it, the competent special prosecutor gave an order to the Special Police Department (SPO) to collect and seize financial and related documentation from the Ministry, as well as to collect information from Bratić and other management persons (all state secretaries and general directors of all directorates) and, if necessary, from other persons as a citizen, for the period covered by the DRI report," the announcement states. .

CGO has no information whether Bratić and the others have really been heard in connection with this case so far.

"CGO expects the SDT to act efficiently on these reports, bearing in mind that it is about the officially determined findings of the SAI, in the first case, that is, the court-determined harmful consequences, in the case of the second report, which would also violate the SDT's non-selectivity in its work". concluded Kaluđerović.

I.B.