WORLD NEWS FOR MONTENEGRO DIASPORA
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SOURCE: ETV / AUTHOR: M.J. - REDAKTION
The Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica is investigating the conduct of the general director, certain members of the Public Service Council and part of the management in three separate cases due to suspected violations of the law during the election of Boris Raonic.
The Basic State Prosecutor's Office told Portal ETV that the cases were established due to the criminal offenses of abuse of official position, non-execution of a court decision and abuse of official position through incitement.
APPLICATIONS
The Prosecutor's Office is checking the actions of Raonic, Council President Veslin Drljević and council members Filip Lazović, Naod Zorić, Amina Murić, Vladimir Drekalović, Milica Špajak and the head of the Legal Service of Radio and Television of Montenegro Želimir Mićović.
- In the Basic State Prosecutor's Office, three cases were formed against B.R.V.D., Ž. M., N. Z., F. L., A. M., M. S. and V. D - it is stated in the answers to Portal ETV.
On June 3 last year, ODT Podgorica filed a case on its own initiative due to the re-appointment of Raonic as general director, despite the final verdict of the Basic Court in Podgorica.
Five days later, the Media Center also filed a criminal complaint against the president and certain members of the Council, because they refused to execute the final court verdict.
General manager Boris Raonic and head of the Legal Service Želimir Mićović were also registered at that time. Those two cases were then combined and forwarded during June to the Special State Prosecutor's Office, the case was assigned by the spokesperson and special prosecutor Vukas Radonjić.
The SDT, however, dragged out the "RTCG case" for a year, aware that based on the initiative of the chief special prosecutor Vladimir Novović, changes to the Law on the Special State Prosecutor's Office will be adopted in the IBAR package, which will reduce the powers of that prosecutor's office and will result in the transfer of this "hot potato" to the already overburdened ODT.
Thus, on June 25 of this year, the SDT returned the RTCG case to the Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica for further processing, although GST Novović announced about 20 days earlier, on June 7 - on the show "Nachisto" - that the decision regarding the illegal elections of the general director of RTCG to be brought soon.
- The case was formed on June 16, 2023, after the Basic State Prosecutor's Office submitted the case files to the SDT, which was formed based on the Media Center's criminal complaint. During the investigation, the necessary documentation was obtained - the minutes and audio recording of the Council session - said Novović at the time.
He said that the suspects and witnesses were heard, that acting prosecutor Radonjić obtained verdicts and that he was looking for ballots in order to "check something", which is important to him for making a decision.
- I expect that the prosecutor's decision will be made quickly - Novović said then.
But the only thing that happened quickly was the prompt release of a huge number of complex cases, including the "RTCG case", according to the higher and basic state prosecutor's offices.
CHANGES IN THE LAW
Thus, only 23 days after Novović's second television appearance since his election to the position of GST, on March 18, 2022, the case was submitted to the ODT Podgorica, due to changes in the Law on the Special State Prosecutor's Office.
These amendments reduced the competences of the SDT, so it is now responsible for criminal prosecution exclusively of "high public officials", which the members of the Council and the general director of the RTCG, according to the interpretation, are no longer.
In the case of Raonic and his illegal appointments, the courts passed several final and first-instance judgments in which a conflict of interest and failure to meet the conditions of the competition due to a lack of necessary qualifications were established.
Raonic's third election to the position of general director took place on August 31 this year, after a competition announced on the basis of, also as part of the IBAR law, changes to the RTCG Act, in which amendments written in his cabinet lowered the criteria for selecting the first man of the Public Service.
Raonic was elected by the votes of five of the nine members of the Council, while one ballot was invalid.
CRIMINAL ASSOCIATION
Six employees of the Public Service, on the eve of the third illegal election of the general director, filed criminal charges against Raonić, Council members Drljević, Zorić, Lazović, Murić, Špajak Drekalović, and the head of the legal department, Mićović, to the Basic State Prosecutor's Office for criminal association.
In the criminal report, it is stated that this group jointly violated the laws, which enabled Boris Raonic to acquire enormous funds, and that there is a basis for them to be prosecuted for violating several articles of the Criminal Code of Montenegro: criminal association, creation of a criminal organization, extended criminal offense, fraud, fixing the outcome of the competition, abuse of position in business operations, prevention of evidence, non-execution of a court decision and abuse of official position.
According to the criminal complaint, this group, in the long term, from June 2021 and the announcement of the competition for the general director of RTCG, broke the laws, with intent, willingly and intentionally, and endangered the public interest, and enabled Boris Raonic to illegally acquire over 170 thousand euros gross, that is, about 128 thousand euros net.
After the third appointment of Raonic on August 31, eight of his opponents for the position of General Director of Radio and Television of Montenegro announced that they would not accept that election as transparent and fair, but that they would use all legal mechanisms to prove their claims.
They announced that they would inform local officials, embassies and international organizations about the farcical election of Raonic.
Three days ago, regarding the RTCG case, the European Federation of Journalists also spoke out, calling for action due to the illegal appointment of the director.
The president of the Federation, Maja Sever, said that the lack of transparency in the appointment of the general director of RTCG must be investigated, as it represents a serious violation of European standards established by the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA).
