(Podgorica, July 25. 2013.) – Ministry of foreign affairs of Great Britain believes that the incident related to the recent arrest of employees of MANS, is “a powerful reminder” that freedom of expression remains a problem in Montenegro, while the Ministry of foreign affairs of Germany reminds us that freedom of speech is a very important part of the negotiations for the accession of Montenegro to the European Union.
This is stated in separate letters that mentioned ministries sent to the addresses of representatives of Transparency International of Great Britain and Germany in response to the letters that were sent after the arrest of MANS employees during the performance due to the increased rate of additional income. .
After the arrest of our staff office of Transparency International sent to their governments in several countries letters expressing concern for democratic processes in Montenegro, and new freedom of speech and opinion.
Transparency International is a globally known coalition against corruption with offices in over 50 countries, and MANS is its exclusive partner in Montenegro.
In a letter from the office of the Ministry off foreign affairs of Great Britain to the director of Transparency International of that country, Robert Barrington says that their embassy in Podgorica is very concerned about the circumstances under which the MANS activists were arrested, and also that they closely monitor what is happening on this issue. In the latter it is additionally stated that Montenegro has made progress in terms of respect for freedom of speech, and that Montenegro has to do lot more before joining the European Union.
In addition, in a letter of the Ministry of foreign affairs of the German office to the office of Transparency International in that country it is stated that Montenegro truly progressed, but that improvements are still needed in the area of freedom of the press and expression. Here is especially important that the German Government was deeply engaged in the creation of a new approach to the EU that put rule of law into focus as a accession process into EU, and will do the best to maintain this focus.
Also, Transparency International of Ireland sent a special letter to its Ministry for European Affairs of Ireland which also expresses concern about the situation with regard to freedom of speech and expression in Montenegro.
Besides them the Brussels office of this organization sent a similar letter to several addresses including the Committee for a foreign affairs of the European parliament and to the Commissioner for enlargement in Montenegro.
MANS has previously announced that the Transparency International Secretariat in Berlin sent a letter directly to the Minister of the Interior, Rasko Konjevic, but until this day has not received any response.
The reaction was absent and from the address of the President of the Montenegrin parliament, Ranko Krivokapic,
where another letter was sent from MANS international partner, organization BankWatch that deals with surveillance of international financial institutions.
We recall that Internal control already established that the Police Directorate illegally arrested activists of MANS, and that we requested from many committees of the Parliament in Montenegro to further investigate the responsibility for the violation of our rights.
While it is encouraging respect for freedom of speech and expression still to be a priority for the countries in the EU, it is also worrying that from the official address in Montenegro still we have no active reaction to the blatant violation of human rights by the police.
MANS
