Centre for Civic Education (CCE) considers the first-instance decision of the Basic Court in Podgorica instructive, by which the President of the RTCG Council Veselin Drljević, Council members Filip Lazović, Naod Zorić, as well as the former Council member Amina Murić, were found guilty of abuse of office and sentenced to a suspended prison term of seven months.
The CCE has consistently warned about the obvious legal omissions in the work of the RTCG Council, and today’s verdict confirms the validity of some of those warnings. We remind that this decision relates to the unlawful appointment of Boris Raonić in 2023.
However, in the meantime, the same Council members repeatedly engaged in this unlawful practice – in July 2024, when they appointed Raonić as acting director of RTCG just a few minutes after he had resigned from the position of general director, and again in September 2024, when they appointed him as general director for a full term, allegedly applying the new Law on the National Public Broadcaster. These Council members unjustifiably counted Raonić’s work experience from his previous term, which the court declared unlawful. Thus, even after the illegality of the previous appointment was clearly established, the same individuals knowingly continued with the unlawful practice, which should lead to stricter sanctions for them in future verdicts.
The CCE calls on all RTCG Council members who were found guilty by this court decision to immediately resign from their positions. It is unacceptable for individuals who have abused their official positions to continue deciding on key matters concerning the future of the Public Service, including the adoption of the RTCG budget and financial plan, which, by law, must be adopted by the end of the year, thereby enabling these compromised individuals to once again manage around 20 million EUR of public funds from the citizens of Montenegro.
Additionally, the ethical dimension of these members continuing to hold public office must also be questioned. How can it be expected from individuals who have been judicially declared guilty to make future decisions based on principles of ethics, meritocracy, and professional standards? Their previous actions indicate quite the opposite, showing persistence in continuously violating the law and degrading institutions for particular interests.
It is also indicative that the minutes and decisions from the Council sessions at which Raonić was unlawfully appointed as acting director and later as full-term director during 2024 are not available in the RTCG bulletin, although the RTCG Council is legally obligated to issue the bulletin twice a year under the Law on the National Public Broadcaster. The absence of minutes from the aforementioned sessions further casts doubt on the transparency of the Council’s work and justifies today’s court ruling.
Finally, the question remains: who will compensate for the damage caused to the state of Montenegro?
Today’s ruling confirms that the Council members knowingly enabled Boris Raonić to unlawfully manage RTCG, causing direct harm to the public interest, the budget, and the credibility of the Public Service. This must be a clear signal that abuses in high positions cannot go unpunished. If, despite the verdict, these individuals are allowed to continue making decisions, it sends a message that institutions are captured and that abuses are normalized and go unpunished. Such a scenario would be devastating to the citizens’ trust in RTCG and to the very idea of the rule of law in Montenegro.
Nikola Obradović, Programme Associate