(Podgorica, 29 December 2011) – Due to the illegal interception of MANS’ email and the interrogation of MANS executive director Vanja Ćalović – during the investigation following the posting on YouTube of a controversial video taken at Safet Kalić’s wedding – a complaint for non-material damages was filed today with the Basic Court in Podgorica against the Police Department and the State of Montenegro.
Believing that with its illegal and unconstitutional actions the Police Department violated our rights to privacy and endangered the honor and reputation of MANS’ 25 employees, the suit seeks compensation of 37,500 euros (i.e. 1500 euros per person, which is far below the standard compensation offered by the European Court for Human Rights in similar cases).
MANS lawyer Veselin Radulović filed the lawsuit after the Council for Civilian Control of the Police confirmed that the Police Department had violated the law in its investigation of the Kalić wedding video and for its refusal to submit all information obtained from our internet communications as they were ordered by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The suit alleges that the Police Department accessed MANS’ internet communications without authorization and of its own volition, thereby violating the right to privacy for those, ” who carry out their private and business communications over the internet.”
As proof, attached were the December 8 findings of the Council for Civilian Control of the Police confirming that Vanja Ćalović was illegally interrogated in the Podgorica District Unit in July 2011 (during which she was never informed of what criminal offenses she was being asked to give a statement about).
The Police Department also willfully and against the law interfered in the right to privacy of MANS’ employees – protected by Article 8 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms – since it did not possess a warrant for such treatment in spite of having publicly claimed otherwise.
Specifically, the Code of Criminal Procedure stipulates that: “the collection of data concerning technical communications in private and public spaces,” can only be ordered against those suspected of committing serious crimes or being involved with elements of organized crime.
However, instead of collecting information on the links between high-ranking officials and organized crime figures – clearly in evidence on the footage from Kalić’s wedding that was posted on YouTube – the Police Department was busy conducting surveillance on MANS’ email communications instead. In doing so, they directly violating our rights to privacy and furthermore attempted to coercively obtain information on the identity of the individual who posted the video online.
Since the police has yet to allow access to the information it gathered from our email communications – even after being ordered to do so by the Ministry of Internal Affairs – we still don’t know how long we were under police surveillance and whether or not the practice continues.
Montenegro’s Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights both guarantee citizens the right to privacy, while not a single law authorizes the police to arbitrarily – without court approval and without supervision or control – intercept the internet communications of its citizens.
In doing so, the Police Department has thus violated the honor and reputation of MANS employees. As already noted the law only allows such surveillance if permission is granted by the courts and only in cases involving serious crimes or elements of organized crime.
MANS has nothing to do with organized crime, nor does it have any contact with individuals that appear at Safet Kalić’s wedding. Furthermore, MANS’ activities are actually directed at the suppression of organized crime, which means that the Police Department’s attempts to bring us in association with such disreputable figures directly impacts the honor and reputation of those working for this NGO.
We thus expect that our claim will be processed efficiently and that the judiciary will help us uncover the many irregularities in the Police Department’s work, which have allowed them to violate the rights of citizens (and not only the rights of those working for MANS). We hope that our courts will be able to issue a ruling in accordance with the views expressed by the European Court on Human Rights and thus put an end to the unconstitutional and illegal actions of the Police Department.
