The Center for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro (CIN-CG) will implement the regional project Reporting Diversity Network - RDN 2.0 in the next four years (April 2020 - April 2024). The project aims to activate the role of civil society in combating narratives of divisions as a negative phenomenon that leads to conflicts, as well as […]

If Montenegro were a functional democracy, governments would change in election cycles. The Left, Right or Center would leave and return. The victory of the opposition would not be presented as the end of the world - a typhoon that will take away the country. However, Montenegro is not a democracy. That’s why it is […]

EVEN THOUGH THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT DECLARED 2028 AS A REASONABLE DEADLINE FOR AN ASBESTOS-FREE EUROPE, MONTENEGRO DOES NOT HAVE ANY ACCURATE RECORDS OF CANCER-CAUSING MATERIAL OR A PLAN FOR ITS REMOVAL "My child will be bathing there tomorrow," Mladen Krivokapic told CIN-CG/Monitor. He is one of 15 workers who worked on clearing the terrain of […]

Experts claim that asbestos water pipes are not so harmful, but their replacement is primarily to protect human health and the environment. It is estimated that the investment requires at least 100 million euros, while the state still does not have 750 thousand for the project Health protection of the population and huge technical and […]

State institutions left the river to itself to solve the problem of pollution and ecocide downstream from Bijelo Polje. High-quality fish are declining, heavy metals have been found in them, and the number of fishermen has been reduced by three quarters. "Nobody fishes in the Lim anymore. People neither eat fish nor give it to […]

In addition to the Thermal Power Plant Pljevlja and the Aluminum Plant Podgorica, apart from the heating season, the largest pollutants are more than 240 thousand vehicles, most of which are over 10 years old, with the largest percentage being diesel cars. WHO's calculations show that six percent of all deaths in Podgorica, 12 percent […]

The gloves are the last piece of equipment to take off in the house, while in hospitals the order is reversed. The last one is a mask, but two pairs of gloves are worn and the hands are disinfected between each piece of equipment removed. Those are the recommendations from the Institute of Public Health. […]

Award ceremony for EU Investigative Journalism Awards in Montenegro is postponed until the fall. The decision was brought with the consent of the Delegation of the European Union to Montenegro, due to COVID-19. Numerous applications have been submitted so far and all of these applications will be evaluated by an independent international jury. Because of […]

Today, the key threat to Montenegro does not come from Vucic's Serbia, Putin's Russia, the Serbian Orthodox Church, or the so-called anti-state opposition and alleged internal enemies, which, as we can see, are multiplying every day. The future of our country is uncertain, first of all, because of the nefarious Djukanovic’s system, which is not […]

Do you have an idea for a big story in the public interest? Do you want to explore topics relevant for Montenegro and the EU integration process? Do you want to report your story to the highest standards, with training and a quality editorial mentoring from the country and the region that let you explore […]

The Center for Investigative Journalism Montenegro (CIN-CG), weekly Monitor and Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) have launched the two-year project entitled Investigative Journalism on EnvironMEntal Issues, with Citizens’ Engagement. This project aims to strengthen investigative reporting as well as to protect public interest particularly related to environmental protection in Montenegro and Chapter 27. Journalistic investigations […]

Applications are now open for submission of investigative articles from the Western Balkans and Turkey for the annual EU Investigative Journalism Award.  Investigative stories published from January 1 to December 31 2019 and related to freedom of expression, rule of law, transparency, abuse of power and fundamental rights, corruption and organised crime are welcome to […]

Pressure on the media is nothing new in this de facto one-party state – but the current wave of arrests of journalists suggests that the conflict is rapidly intensifying. Pressures on the media have been present in various forms for a long time in Montenegro. But they intensified this January. Over just a few days […]

Persistent insistence on restricting the right of journalists to protect their sources, along with imposing self-regulation on the state budget and the announced changes to the laws on data secrecy and free access to information, reflect the nature of the regime that produces a captive state. What is so annoyingly troubling the Government, its bodies […]

Montenegro is the only country in Europe (not counting Russia) in which there has never been a change of government in an election. Since 1945, it has been governed invariably by one and the same party - the Communist Party, which in 1990 changed its name to the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS). Although the […]

In the first of a series of posts by investigative journalists and civil society activists working on exposing corruption in the Balkans, Milka Tadić Mijović (President, Centre for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro) discusses impunity in Montenegro and the complicity of the West. Last spring, a woman in Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro, was shot in the […]

The High Court acquitted the defendants while the Appellate Court and the Supreme Court went even farther and ruled that no crime took place at all. Many years on, the government, in order to redeem itself, poured millions in the construction of new houses in Bukovica, to which no one returns except briefly, to vote […]

Montenegrin judiciary shifts the blame from Milosevic’s state policy of terror in Kosovo, whose main protagonists were convicted by the Hague Tribunal, to a private who allegedly spun out of control The High Court in Podgorica convicted Vlado Zmajevic from Niksic, Montenegro to 14 years of prison for killing four civilians in the village of […]

Montenegrin court recognised the crime of deportations in the ruling on damage claims but the judges acquitted those who had taken part in the arrests and deportations of victims. The judges also protected the command chain and the country’s officials, under excuse that Montenegro was not a party to the conflict in Bosnia. The civil […]

While Montenegro’s judiciary appeals to functional immunity of prosecutors and judges when criticised for lousy work, the experts believe it’s about time to pay attention to the cases which have dearly cost the state treasury. However they admit that personal responsibility followed by resignation is still something unthinkable. No one in Montenegro’s judiciary is held responsible […]

Montenegro’ s public debt is on trajectory to a whopping 80% of GDP due to excessive and uncontrolled spending and capital projects which  are largely non-transparent including the construction of first highway  in Montenegro’s history. The Budget and Fiscal Responsibility Law  defines how the government and the parliament should act in case the  public debt […]

The medieval fortified town of Kotor in Montenegro risks losing UNESCO world  heritage site ranking as the rivers of tourists gush out of cruise ships and flow through the gates of the old town. Environmentalists and experts sound alarm bells for the Bay of Kotor’s delicate ecosystem. Dusan Varda recalls strolling through the old town of […]

As funds granted by the World Bank remain unused the government is unmoved by some 7.5 million tonnes of hazardous waste that loom over the country. On the other hand the authorities' response to environmental incidents is merely symbolic whereas ordinary people have to bear the brunt of enormous environmental damage. The Brussels administration is […]

The World Health Organisation data show that 6 % of deaths in Podgorica, 12 % in Niksic and 22 % in Pljevlja are caused by air pollution. The authorities and polluters keep delaying actions which would help reverse the situation   At the end of January the alarm bells rang in Skopje due to dramatic […]

BANNED IN MONTENEGRO BUT BELOVED IN ALBANIA, TRADITIONAL "DALJANI”, OR FISH WEIRS, ARE BEING BLAMED FOR A DRAMATIC FALL IN FISH STOCKS IN LAKE SKADAR. Dzelal Hodzic fondly remembers the biggest catch of his life. “You could feel it by the noise,” said the veteran Montenegrin fisherman. “It was night, and they just said ‘lift!’ […]

Nature’s delicate balance disrupted by development spree, Montenegro risks losing an iconic island of 515 hectares and kilometres of sandy beaches. The shrinking of Ada Bojana threatens its unique ecosystem. Shyqyri Kahari was once sailing the world for living – until his marriage in 1979 brought him back to his hometown of Ulcinj in Montenegro […]