WORLD NEWS FOR MONTENEGRO DIASPORA
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AUTHOR:M.J. GDNUS
The Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica will proceed according to the law and procedure in the case against the President of the Municipality of Nikšić, Marko Kovačević, initiated for the criminal offense of "inciting national, racial and religious hatred", as soon as the conditions are met, or as soon as it receives official confirmation from the Parliament that he is no longer an MP.
This was announced in a statement for Pobjeda by the head of the Podgorica State Prosecutor's Office, Lepa Medenica, after the information was published that Kovačević had resigned from his position as an MP in the Parliament of Montenegro.
Medenica stated that, after taking an official statement from Kovačević, the State Prosecutor's Office will determine whether there are elements of a criminal offense in the aforementioned case.
- As soon as the conditions are met, Mr. Kovačević will be summoned to give a statement on this occasion, or when we officially receive a statement that he is no longer an MP in the Parliament of Montenegro - Medenica specified.
At the beginning of his second term, on June 3, the mayor of Nikšić announced that he would resign from his seat in the Assembly due to the incompatibility of the two functions, as defined by the provisions of the law adopted a year ago. With this act, he should also lose his immunity and become fully available to the judicial authorities. Essentially, this will be possible only after the Parliament of Montenegro officially notes Kovačević's resignation at the first subsequent session, the date of which has not yet been announced.
On July 16 last year, the Higher State Prosecutor's Office opened a case against the mayor of Nikšić for the criminal offense of "inciting national, racial and religious hatred". This is about Kovačević's statement at the commemoration of the 166th anniversary of the Battle of Grahovac, organized by the Serbian Orthodox Church, and attended by the then Russian Ambassador to Montenegro Vladislav Maslenikov. On that occasion, he specifically addressed "former rulers and their henchmen".
- We will be patient, we will always wait with open hearts and open arms with the question of whether we are brothers. And if someone does not want us to be brothers, if someone wants to look more like the Turks, then in the future we will treat them the same way we treat the Turks – said the leader of the town under Trebjes.
Since this is a battle from 1858, which took place during the Herzegovina Uprising, and in which the more numerous Turkish army was defeated by the Montenegrin army led by Duke Mirko Petrović, Kovačević called the Montenegrin troops “Christian warriors of the Serbian army of Montenegrins and Herzegovinians”.
Statements from the first man of the second largest municipality in Montenegro only began to arrive when the recording of the entire celebration became public, a few days later.
Over the past nine months, after the recording of the controversial speech became public, the VDT sent a request and two urgent letters to the parliament in order to get an epilogue to the case, but the Parliament, chaired by the leader of the NSD Andrija Mandić, persistently ignored these letters.
The attempts have been ongoing since September 17, 2024, when the aforementioned request for criminal prosecution of the MP was sent to the parliamentary Administrative Committee, headed by Jelena Nedović from PES. Since then, according to our newspaper's information, the VDT document has not left Mandić's office. Consequently, the Administrative Committee has not initiated a discussion on this case either, because the issue of lifting immunity can only be put on the agenda after the prosecutor's request has been forwarded to them.
The Prosecutor's Office, after forming a case against Kovačević on July 16 last year, ordered the Police Directorate to collect the necessary information from him and, if necessary, take other measures and actions, with the aim of analyzing them and assessing whether the specific speech contains the elements of a criminal offense within the jurisdiction of that prosecutor's office.
