Rule of Law or Force?

Centre for Civic Education (CCE) and Institute Alternative (IA) warn of obvious example of obstruction of justice within the bodies that should primarily secure the law enforcement, and which must be urgently solved.

IA and CCE estimate that yesterday’s hearing of commander of Special Antiterrorist Unit (SAJ) Radosav Lješković before the Prosecution represents a textbook instance of obstruction of justice, obstruction of investigation as well as a form of abuse of official position.

If Lješković does not know which member of SAJ, unit which he is in charge of, brutally injured Miodrag Mijo Martinović and destroyed his vehicle, and if he does not know which two members of special squads were in “hummer” with him, then he should be immediately dismissed.

Should Lješković not be dismissed, or if he meanwhile fails to “remember” those important facts, then this will be the direct responsibility of Slavko Stojanović, director of Police Directorate, who appointed him and who is, thus, accountable for his work.

Finally, if Stojanović himself fails to recognise his responsibility, then it shall fall under the direct responsibility of Minister of Interior, Raško Konjević, as his superior.

State in which the citizen can be brutally beaten by members of law enforcement agency without visible faces and names, and whose senior officers attempt to cover up that crime through the use of “the Law of silence”, is the state where the rule of law is not leaving, and where the security of each citizen is directly threatened.

Currently, there is no greater test for investigative and judicial authorities in Montenegro than to establish the disciplinary, criminal and other liability for the crime committed against Martinović, as well as for the attempts to cover up that same crime in spite of the evidence which shocked the Montenegrin public.

Of course, the whole case cant’s remain outside the domain of politics, and the necessity of establishing political accountability is imposed as logical, even though in Montenegro we, unfortunately, do not practice that.

Daliborka Uljarević, Executive Director, CCE Stevo Muk, president of MB, IA