Seventeen non-governmental organizations express deep concern over the circumstances in which the Parliament of Montenegro is preparing to vote on the election of members of the Council of Radio and Television of Montenegro (RTCG), and call on the President of the Parliament and MPs not to decide on the candidates for membership of the Council until the competent authorities have completed the review of all allegations of unlawfulness in the nomination procedure.
We recall that today four civil society organizations – Media Center, Centre for Civic Education (CCE), Center for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro (CIN-CG), and Montenegro Media Institute (MMI) – filed criminal complaints with the Basic State Prosecutor’s Office in Podgorica. The complaints concern a well-founded suspicion that the current President of the RTCG Council and candidate for a new term, Veselin Drljević, incited the falsification of documentation supporting his candidacy, and that responsible persons within the Administrative Committee of the Parliament, by failing to perform their official duties, allowed incomplete and unlawful documentation to be accepted as complete.
Of particular concern is the fact that the list of authorized nominators included a non-governmental organization which, according to publicly available data, has not existed since 2021, as well as the fact that the financial documentation of certain NGO nominators does not meet the legally prescribed requirements concerning the minimum annual budget.
We therefore call on the Parliament of Montenegro not to include on its agenda the item concerning the election of members of the RTCG Council; to await the outcome of the investigation by the Basic State Prosecutor’s Office, or, in the meantime, for MPs themselves to take an interest and, in the public interest, verify the allegations contained in the criminal complaint by simply reviewing the documentation in the Parliament’s possession; and, upon completion of that review, to annul the call for applications and issue a new one.
The public service broadcaster must be protected from any suspicion regarding the legitimacy of its governing bodies. The credibility of RTCG and citizens’ trust in media regulation must not be sacrificed due to anyone’s intentional or accidental omissions.
We also recall that public calls for the appointment of members of the Council of the Agency for Audiovisual Media Services have been annulled twice, even without convincing legal reasoning, while the public call for the appointment of members of the RTCG Council was deliberately postponed for several months.
If the Parliament was willing to delay and annul procedures when doing so suited the political majority, there is no justification for failing to do so now, when the protection of legality and the credibility of RTCG require it.
Goran Đurović, Media Center
Olivera Nikolić, Montenegro Media Institute (MMI)
Daliborka Uljarević, Centre for Civic Education (CCE)
Milka Tadić Mijović, Centre for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro (CIN-CG)
Tea Gorjanc Prelević, Human Rights Action (HRA)
Darko Ivanović, NGO 35mm
Zdravko Janjušević, Bijelo Polje Democratic Centre
Nataša Nelević, NOVA – Center for Feminist Culture
Zorana Marković, Centre for Development of Non-Governmental Organizations (CRNVO)
Nevenka Vuksanović, Centre for Democracy and Human Rights (CEDEM)
Budislavka Mira Saveljić, Women’s Safe House
Muamera Muslić, NGO Djakomo Adriatic
Boris Nedović, NGO Centre of the North
Marina Vujačić, Association of Youth with Disabilities of Montenegro (UMHCG)
Radomir Kračković, Trade Union of Media of Montenegro
Aida Perović, NGO Prima
Slavica Striković, Women’s Action
Nataša Međedović, SOS Hotline for Women and Children Victims of Violence Nikšić