Media Center, Centre for Civic Education (CCE), Center for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro (CIN-CG), and Montenegro Media Institute (MMI) today submitted two criminal complaints to the Basic State Prosecutor’s Office in Podgorica over suspected irregularities in the procedure for electing members of the RTCG Council.
One criminal complaint was submitted against Veselin Drljević, a candidate for membership of the RTCG Council and the incumbent President of the RTCG Council, on suspicion of inciting the falsification of documentation used in the procedure for his candidacy.
The second criminal complaint was submitted against Goranka Vučinić, Secretary of the Administrative Committee of the Parliament of Montenegro, and as yet unidentified officials engaged in the verification of candidacies, on suspicion that, by failing to perform their official duties, they enabled documentation which, according to the allegations in the complaint, did not meet the legally prescribed requirements to be accepted as complete and lawful.
The criminal complaint against Veselin Drljević, a candidate for membership of the RTCG Council and the incumbent President of the RTCG Council, was submitted on the grounds that he incited an unidentified person to commit the criminal offence of document forgery (Article 412 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro), in order to enable himself to obtain unlawful benefit as a member of the RTCG Council in a new term of office, thereby committing the criminal offence of incitement to commit a criminal offence under Article 24 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro.
The List of Timely and Complete Nominations for four candidates for membership of the RTCG Council also included the non-governmental organisation Association for the Protection and Preservation of Nature Kapetanovo Jezero, which has not existed under that name since 2021.
The only conclusion in this situation, which we hope will also be clear to the Basic State Prosecutor’s Office, is that Veselin Drljević communicated with an unidentified person whom he persuaded and incited to complete the nomination document for Drljević, balance sheets and income statements, as well as the NGO’s activity reports for 2023, 2024 and 2025. It is not plausible that an unidentified person, without anyone’s prompting, independently came to the Parliament of Montenegro to submit forged documents on behalf of a non-existent NGO, and specifically for Veselin Drljević as a candidate for membership of the RTCG Council.
A criminal complaint was also submitted against Goranka Vučinić, Secretary of the Administrative Committee of the Parliament of Montenegro, and unidentified persons from the service headed by Goranka Vučinić, on the grounds that, as persons responsible for verifying the documentation of candidates for membership of the RTCG Council, by failing to perform their official duties, by omission and by negligent conduct, they enabled the unlawfully nominated candidates for membership of the RTCG Council, Veselin Drljević and Amar Škrijelj, to obtain unlawful benefit, thereby committing the criminal offence of abuse of office under Article 416 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro.
On the basis of the aforementioned provisions of the Law, as well as on the basis of the public statements of the Chair and members of the Administrative Committee, the professional service of the Administrative Committee, headed by Secretary Goranka Vučinić, was responsible for verifying the completeness of the documentation of candidates for membership of the RTCG Council. More precisely, the professional service and Secretary Goranka Vučinić were responsible for verifying, among other documentation, whether the balance sheets and income statements of non-governmental organisations (as authorised nominators) for the previous three years (2023, 2024 and 2025) prior to the date of publication of the public call proved that they had met two of the requirements set out in Article 26 of the Law on the National Public Broadcaster – Public Media Service of Montenegro, namely that: “2) in the three years preceding the publication of the public call for the nomination of candidates for membership of the Council, the annual budget for the implementation of activities in the field in which the candidate for membership of the Council is nominated was not less than EUR 3,000; 3) in the three years preceding the publication of the public call for the nomination of candidates for membership of the Council, at least EUR 2,000 during one calendar year was spent on the implementation of activities in the field in which the candidate for membership of the Council is nominated.”
The professional service of the Administrative Committee, headed by Goranka Vučinić, did not verify the balance sheets and income statements or the fulfilment of this requirement by NGOs acting as authorised nominators.
The professional service of the Administrative Committee did not establish, for example, whether the NGO Football Academy Pro – Football School had any connection with the field of media. In addition to the unclear connection between the Football Academy and activities in the field of media, in 2023 it recorded income of EUR 1,217, which is below the statutory threshold of EUR 3,000.
The same question arises in relation to all other NGOs included on the list of organisations supporting candidates Drljević and Škrijelj.
We consider it of crucial importance that the Prosecutor’s Office urgently examine all allegations contained in the complaints, determine any potential criminal liability, and remove any doubt that the election of RTCG Council members was conducted contrary to the law. This is not merely a matter of individual responsibility, but also of the credibility of the procedure for electing the governing body of the public broadcaster, as well as of public trust in the implementation of media laws, which represented one of the important conditions on Montenegro’s European path.
We also recall that civil society organisations have, over the past several weeks, repeatedly warned of irregularities in the procedure for electing members of the RTCG Council and called on the competent institutions to conduct a thorough review of the candidates’ complete documentation before the process is concluded. Unfortunately, those warnings did not result in an adequate response from the competent authorities, which is why it is now necessary for the Prosecutor’s Office to assume its statutory role and establish all relevant facts.
Goran Đurović, Media Center
Daliborka Uljarević, Centre for Civic Education (CCE)
Milka Tadić Mijović, Center for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro (CIN-CG)
Olivera Nikolić, Montenegro Media Institute (MMI)