(Podgorica, 4 March 2013) – Today the Basic Court in Podgorica held a hearing to consider the case filed by 25 MANS’ employees against the state, for illegal surveillance of the NGO’s internet communications and violation of their fundamental human rights. During the hearing, the findings of the Basic Court in Bijelo Polje were read out, indicating that case files opened against MANS’ employees were submitted to the Supreme State Prosecutor’s Office in July 2011. I want to remind the reader that Supreme State Prosecutor Ranka Čarapić has steadfastly remained silent with regards to our request to examine the materials submitted to her office as a result of the illegal surveillance carried out on MANS, even though the court ruled that we had a right to access this information (thereby forcing us to submit a complaint to the Minister of Justice).
At the hearing, the court examined the documentary evidence that was suggested by the plaintiffs, including: the summons and notes of the illegal interrogation of [MANS’ Executive Director] Vanja Ćalović by the police; the decision by the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) ordering the police to hand over the information that it gathered about MANS through its surveillance activities (and on which the police has not acted in the past year-and-a-half); as well as the acts of the Council for Citizen Control of the Police that confirmed that the police acted in an illegal fashion towards MANS’ employees; and the requests that MANS submitted to Ms. Čarapić (which she has again failed to act upon after 5 months). As to an analysis of the content of the evidence contained in the DVD of Safet Kalić’s wedding, the court will rule later.
Neither the plaintiffs nor the defendants had any objections to the evidence introduced. The court stated that the next hearing would include all the plaintiffs with the exception of Ms. Ćalović (who has already testified in this trial). Furthermore, the court will request that the Supreme State Prosecutor submit the case files in which proceedings were initiated against MANS employees. It remains to be seen whether Ms. Čarapić will once again act in a way that demonstrates that for her neither the law nor the rulings of the courts apply. The next hearing will be held on 4 April 2013 at 13:45 hours.
Statement by Veselin Radulovic
MANS Legal Representative
