(Podgorica, 25 December 2012) – The unprofessional behaviour of Montenegro’s prosecutors, in addition to the obvious consequences for the rule of law in the country (proven many times over by the numerous cases that are simply gathering dust), also results in significant damage to the state budget given the wasted resources on so many cases that simply tend to drag on.
At the beginning of the month, MANS submitted complaints to the Prosecutors’ Council of Montenegro against several prosecutors who, on the basis of the list of cases they were working, are alleged to have fulfilled their prosecutorial roles in an irresponsible, unprofessional and negligent manner.
Complaints were filed against the deputy Special State Prosecutor, Drazen Buric and Milosav Velickovic, as well as against Drita Rugovac, the deputy of the Basic State Prosecutor in Plav.
The deputy prosecutor Buric, after 34 months on a case decided to suspend it allegedly because there was no evidence that the accused had committed a crime (i.e. that the same evidence existed at the beginning of the case as at its end). This implies that the prosecutor could have quit the case back then, though this did not occur, thereby accumulating significant costs to the judiciary as a result.
A similar situation occurred in the case of deputy prosecutor Velickovic, who after 21 months of pursuing a case also suspended the case without giving a rationale.
Deputy Rugovac also suspended a case after 39 months, justifying the move by stating that the accused hadn’t gained an advantage due to changes in to the recently amended Criminal Code. During the course of the case, the Criminal Code was amended several times, but never in the section that Rugovac cites. Essentially the decision was based on Rugovac’s misreading of the law, which allowed the accused to be freed of any responsibility. More than three years of Montenegrin judicial resources were water on the basis of the same evidence that was available at the beginning of the case.
The above examples again demonstrate that Montenegro’s prosecutors are being wasteful in their spending of public monies and that by delaying cases they are wasting enormous sums of money for cases that don’t result in convictions, or that result in a suspension of investigations after considerable time has elapsed.
In responding to the planned budget for next year, Supreme State Prosecutor Ranka Carapic, stated that “the Prosecutors’ Office needs more money for fulfilling its duties,” while MANS’ own analysis demonstrates that her office has contributed to enormous waste of existing resources.
Besides this, MANS reported the above prosecutors to the Prosecutors’ Council since to date not a single prosecutor has been held accountable before this body or any other relevant institution in Montenegro for professional malpractice or negligence.
By the end of this week, MANS will submit to the relevant state prosecutor the documentation that indicates that individual prosecutors also misled the public about their property and earnings. In the framework of MANS’ own research we would like to note that due to a technical error relating to the property of prosecutor Sanja Jovicevic’s partner we had made a mistake and would like to take the opportunity to apologize to her for any problems that may have resulted.
The additional information that MANS will submit to the Special State Prosecutor relates to the poorly reported property of prosecutors Harjan Kalac (from Rozaje), Gorica Golubovic (from Berane), the deputy Special Prosecutor Milisav Velickovic, and prosecutor Nada Bugarin form the Higher Court in Bijelo Polje.
MANS calls on all relevant institutions to examine our documentation and ensure that prosecutors begin to do their jobs in a responsible and honourable manner in order to restore the confidence of the Montenegrin public in this institution and to secure better results in the fight against corruption and organized crime.
