(Podgorica, 18 July 2012) – The Constitutional Court of Montenegro is refusing to end the latest round of plunder targeting citizens because it is staffed by judges who, beside having work experience in the field, also fulfill another key condition for the spot – they are subservient to the government and the ruling parties.
In spite of the signatures of 30,000 citizens and 26 MPs of the Assembly of Montenegro, the Constitutional Court has for more than a month refused to make a ruling on the Law on Taxes that introduced the new “euro-by-euro” tax. The President of this Court, Milan Markovic, justifies this on the basis of drawn out legal praxis in Montenegro, which in reality relies on how the laws and constitution of this country will be interpreted by the ruling elite, their judges and prosecutors.
Milan Markovic has been heading the Constitutional Court for nearly four years. His experience includes being one of the drafters of the Constitution of Montenegro and of the Constitutional Agreement of the former State Union with Serbia.
He certainly would not have garnered all this experience if he wasn’t favored by the DPS, which was confirmed when in the commissions of the Law Faculty he played a role in accepting the doctoral dissertations of high functionaries of the party like Miodrag Vukovic and Boro Vucinic. These were later questioned by the University Senate since they weren’t academic pieces but more akin to political pamphlets.
Markovic, who is still a professor at that faculty as well as at the Faculty of Political Science, is also blessed for having been the school-time friend of Milo Djukanovic, from whose government he received €40,000 in credits to buy an apartment. With a loan that is set to a 20 year repayment schedule and with a monthly salary of €2000, the President of the Constitutional Court is not worried about the “euro-by-euro” tax, nor is he overly concerned to protect his fellow citizens of the legal aggression committed by the Government and the Assembly (in which he also used to earn money as a member of the Legislative-Legal Committee).
Markovic’s colleagues in the Constitutional Court are also subservient to this government. Judge Miras Radovic – the former Minister of Justice, shares part of the responsibility for the fact that two members of Darko Saric’s narco-clan are free since they were release from the Spuz prison. Even though investigative institutions in Europe and the USA know of the smuggling of tons of cocaine, Radovic and the Montenegrin judiciary allegedly did not posses this information, so they released Goran Sokovic and Dejan Sekularac (even though they were already being investigated by a number of foreign agencies).
Besides his rich judicial experience in the judiciary (in Kolasin, Danilovgrad, the Higher and Highest Courts) Radovic was also a functionary of the DPS, making it unclear if and when he pulled out of the ruling party.
According to media information, Radovic also received a €40,000 housing credit at about the same time as Markovic. Information obtained from the Commission for Conflicts of Interest show that he currently earns €1,666 a month in the Constitutional Court as well as an additional €250 as a member of the Commission for the Release of Prisoners from Jail.
The Constitutional Court includes one more former Minister of Justice, Miodrag Latkovic, who came to this position after being recommended by Filip Vujanovic [current President of Montenegro], whose advisor he had been. At the same time, a high functionary of the SDP Miodrag Ilickovic was also admitted into the Constitutional Court (having previously gained experience in Cetinje’s Court for Violations and his work for three companies in which he served as a legal representative).
He was also fortunate for having served as an MP for years in both the Montenegro and Federal parliament, lifting his hands in support of the damaging and corrupt decisions and laws taken by Djukanovic’s Government.
In parliament, as the president of the Committee for Constitutional Matters, Ilickovic invested efforts into a prompt judiciary, making it even more puzzling that he now does not prioritize promptness when he is in the position to practice it.
He had also been receiving for years a stipend as a member of the Board of Directors of the Port of Bar. When irregularities were later uncovered in its management, the SDP functionary completely absolved himself of any responsibility.
The other judges of the Constitutional Court are also loyal servants of the government, as well as their spouses who generally work in government institutions. All this information proves the validity of the thesis that engagement in the judiciary, especially its highest offices, requires that one be subservient and loyal.
Among the dozens of initiatives submitted to the Constitutional Court, which only see the light of day after 2-3 years, there is one that MANS submitted in 2008 (dealing with the illegal access of the Police Director to citizen data through mobile service providers). Till this day, after 47 months, the Constitutional Court still hasn’t even begun considering this case.
The fact that these judges continue to protect the interests of a government caught in the web of organized crime is also confirmed by the example of an initiative that directly impacts the citizens’ interests. The Constitutional Court last year overruled the rule book of the Regulatory Agency for Energy, which had given the right to the Electric Power Company of Montenegro to charge citizens for their commercial losses through peoples’ monthly electricity bills, i.e. the theft of energy.
The decision by the Court was made only a few months after the initiative was submitted, and 5 years after the rule book came into force. It is interesting that citizens to this day haven’t received a return on the money that they had been paying illegally to the EPCG for those five years.
In order not to repeat that experience, the Citizens’ Front collected 30,000 signatures, plus 26 MP’s signatures, in order to halt the latest plunder (which began July 7). However, the interests of citizens and the protection of the constitutional order does not seem to be a priority for the judges of the First Family. They are waiting to end yet another programmed plunder and only then to confirm what is already obvious – that MPs voted-in an illegal decision that was submitted by the Government, in the interests of organized crime!
