By decision of the Constitutional Court finally are confirmed suspicions of MANS that the Administration of Police in the past years illegally accessed the listing of calls of citizens, and that the impugned provision of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) which enacted that, completely unconstitutional.
It took entire six years to the Constitutional Court to decide on initiative to review the constitutionality of the provisions of this Law which submitted MANS back in July of 2008, and disable the police to continue to massively violate the human rights of the citizens of Montenegro, by accessing listings of telephone calls of citizens without a court order and any control.
In fact, by the decision of the Constitutional Court it is finally determined that the provision of the CPC which allows the police the unimpeded access to telephone listings andwithout a court order is unconstitutional, and that such regulation is contrary to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
The Constitutional Court in its decision stated that accepts the view of the European Court Human Rights that is the so-called recruitment of listings an “integral part of telephone conversation” which enjoys the protection of the inviolability of secrecy, so police have no right to obtain this information without a court order.
What is alarming is the fact that the Constitutional Court in such duration prolonged the adoption of the obvious decision, and by doing that allowed the police to illegally and unconstitutionally for years monitors listings of citizens, which without a direct order of the court opens a huge space for serious abuses that are unheard in the practice of the Police.
Undisturbed and totally uncontrolled access to data on telephone calls allowed the police to at any moment enters into the privacy of any citizen and roughly violate their rights without a court order or any reason, which is a practice that is now mostly nurtured in totalitarian regimes, where the police is only and primarily mechanism for dealing with political opponents and critics of the authority.
The consequences of unconstitutional police conduct for years are even difficult to predict, but it is certain that these powers police have not used in order to detect offenders, since there is no case resolved in that way, or a criminal who was arrested by the applications of these measures.
Moreover, several court rulings confirm that the police for years its repression directed towards MANS which indicates and reveals corruption and crime, while drug lords freely left Montenegro at the moment when Interpol issued a warrant for them.
Because of that it is clear that the Constitutional Court does not function in the interests of protecting the Constitution and basic human rights, but by its acts or omissions only enables and encourages their violation.
Unfortunately, this “efficiency” in the work of the Constitutional Court has so far exclusively worked as the advantage of those who are at the expense of the public interest, state budget and respect for human rights of the citizens of Montenegro, tried and succeeded to achieve their private interests. It is difficult to explain it otherwise that for this decision the Constitutional Court needed over six years of analysis and discussion on compliance of the CPC with the Constitution.
MANS
