CIN-CG: Letter to Commissioner Hahn on Judiciary and Media Freedom in Montenegro

Dear Commissioner Hahn,
Hereby we write to you upon our brief encounter with the RSF Balkans bureau chief at the EU-Western
Balkans Media Days 2018 in Skopje last month. We continue to be gravely concerned with the media
situation in Montenegro and the sheer impunity for attacks on journalists, whether by words or physical
force.

Apart from economic pressures, smear campaign and threats we believe that the foremost obstacle to
any improvement in this field is the judiciary in Montenegro which acts with unaccountability and
impunity. In many cases the judiciary rather follows the ruling party’s orders and guidelines than the
letter of the law. This is very visible whenever President Djukanovic gives derogatory statements against
independent (and critical) media calling them “fascists”, “traitors”, “extortioners”, “mafia” etc. Upon
such incentives the judiciary swiftly reacts. This is the main reason why not a single case of violence
against journalists has been fully resolved since the murder of the daily Dan's editor in chief Dusko
Jovanovic in 2004. Consequently the media freedoms have been on steady decline as the rule of law is
wanting in Montenegro.

Here are just a few examples of judicial partiality:

- The case of investigative journalist Jovo Martinovic (among others awards, the winner of 2018 Peter
Mackler Award for courageous and ethical journalism and co-winner of DuPont-Columbia Gold Baton of
2001) who spent nearly 15 months in pre-trial detention under dubious charges that he was actually
reporting about. Upon his release in early Jan 2017 his traveling abroad is restricted and his trial has no
end in sight after three years. In spite of clear evidence that Martinovic was just doing journalistic
investigation for his French production the outcome is uncertain as he and his family and friends were
under the prosecutors’ pressure to sign false confession in exchange for release.

- The case of Olivera Lakic (a well known investigative journalist of the daily Vijesti) who was shot in the
leg on May 8, 2018. No progress has been made in the investigation. That was second attack on Lakic.
She has reported for years on senior Montenegrin officials' links to cigarette smuggling rings. The first
attack, which has remained unresolved, took place in 2012, after a series of her articles on illegal
activities in a tobacco factory in Montenegro. Veselin Veljovic, the then National Police director was
referred to as being privy to the attack. Veselin Veljovic was replaced thereupon, but was re-appointed
in July this year, despite all the controversies. President Djukanovic publicly stated recently that “it's
normal” that the judiciary hasn't solved the case yet. He further said that Olivera's wound was
“controlled damage“ so to blow off the authorities that he represents. The pro-government media run a
permanent campaign against Lakic and the Vijesti and suspect them of having staged the attack.Besides,
there are 20 other cases which remain unsolved where journalists were physically attacked. Dusko
Jovanovic was killed; Tufik Softic was ambushed and heavily beaten up, subsequently a hand grenade
landed in his house yard; Zeljko Ivanovic was ambushed and beaten up with metal rods; Mladen
Stojovic fared the same; the premises of daily Vijesti were bombed; Vladimir Otasevic received death
threats etc.

- The case of Milka Tadic Mijovic and Milena Korac Perovic (winners of several awards, Tadic Mijovic
being on the Reporters Without Borders' first ever list of the 100 Information Heroes), the plaintiffs
against the Daily Pobjeda and the state. In August 2018 the Podgorica District Court ruled against the
libel charges of the aforesaid journalists after six years of trial and four judges replaced in-between.
Tadic and Korac were subjected to smear campaign by Pobjeda, the government controlled daily. Some
50 articles were published in 2011-2013 wherein they were repeatedly called "scum", "the whores in
trousers”, "sluts", "good pussy" and threatened as “thugs deserving the graveyard“, “they will get a kick
in the buttock“, “eventually get beaten up“ etc.). The Podgorica District Court rejected the lawsuit on
the basis that the plaintiffs were public figures and that “Pobjeda articles contributed to public debate“.
The plaintiffs were ordered to pay nearly 3,000€ of court expenses. Tadic had previously sued the E
Novine in Serbia on similar charges and won the case in 2015 (some of the E Novine texts were actually
reprints from Pobjeda). The Serbian court ordered the E Novine to pay libel damages, the highest in
Serbia since the fall of Milosevic. On the other hand, Montenegro's courts awarded Djukanovic, his
family members and friends altogether 300,000€ in libel damages upon their charges against Vijesti,
Dan, and Monitor for their investigative articles.

- The ousting of RTCG (national public broadcaster) management: The top managers were removed
despite concerns and objections from the EU, the US and international organisations. The ruling party
controlled RTCG Council sacked its head manager Andriana Kadija on 8 July 2018. Kadija had initiated
reforms and distanced the news program from the ruling party guidelines. Her firing was carefully
prepared and preceded by illegal replacement of the reform minded civil sector representatives in the
Council. Although the courts ruled that some of these removals were unlawful, the new Council
members took their seats including senior officials of the ruling DPS party. Bozidar Sundic, known for
close ties to the regime, was made the new general manager.
Dear Mr Commissioner, we believe that these examples show that Montenegro's citizens are not equal
before the law. Progress in the freedom of media, democracy and the overall EU integration of
Montenegro is impossible without the rule of law. Hence we urge you to press Montenegro's authorities
towards genuine judiciary reform without which the rule of law will remain a cliché.