The Media Centre and the Centre for Civic Education (CCE) today filed a criminal complaint against Miroslav Bobo Milanović, a candidate for membership of the Council of Radio and Television of Montenegro (RTCG), because, despite being aware that this did not correspond to the facts, he signed a statement confirming that he met the requirements for membership of the RTCG Council prescribed by the Law on the National Public Broadcaster – Public Media Service of Montenegro, thereby committing the criminal offence of forgery of a document under Article 412 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro, with the aim of securing an unlawful benefit for himself in the form of appointment as a new member of the RTCG Council.
Following the public call for the appointment of one member of the RTCG Council nominated by national cultural institutions and non-governmental organisations active in the field of culture, one of the candidates who applied for membership of the RTCG Council was Miroslav Bobo Milanović, until recently a member of the Municipal Board of Democratic Montenegro in Herceg Novi.
Article 22 of the Law on the National Public Broadcaster – Public Media Service of Montenegro stipulates that members of the RTCG Council may not include, among others, “officials of political parties (party presidents, members of presidencies, their deputies, members of executive and main boards, as well as other party officials), during the exercise of such office and for at least three years after the termination of that office”.
Furthermore, Article 25 of the same Law requires authorised nominators to submit, as part of the documentation, a “statement by the nominated candidate accepting the candidacy and confirming that there is no impediment under Article 22 of this Law to their appointment as a member of the Council.”
Miroslav Bobo Milanović was appointed on 1 May 2022 as a member of the Municipal Board of Democratic Montenegro in Herceg Novi. He remained a party official at least until the end of July 2026, which constitutes a legal impediment to his appointment as a member of the RTCG Council.
As late as 30 July 2026, his name was still listed among the members of that Board on the website of Democratic Montenegro, which was submitted to the prosecution as part of the supporting evidence. His presence at activities of the party’s Municipal Board was also recorded during July. On 20 July, the Facebook page of Democratic Montenegro published a photograph from a meeting between party president Aleksa Bečić and members of the Municipal Board, in which Milanović can also be seen. In addition, the website of Democratic Montenegro published a photograph of members of the party’s Municipal Board who, together with the President of the Municipality of Herceg Novi, attended a ceremony marking Statehood Day on 13 July this year, with Milanović also present. By contrast, the media were told that Milanović had ceased to be a member of the party in 2022, which conflicts with publicly available information.
That Milanović knowingly committed the criminal offence is also indicated by his statements to the media, in which he claimed that at all gatherings of the Municipal Board of Democratic Montenegro he was present in the capacity of the person who had rented out sound equipment for the organisation of the event.
Such statements cannot be considered credible, as it is implausible that, during the Statehood Day ceremony, the person standing alongside Minister Tamara Vujović and five other members of the Municipal Board of Democratic Montenegro was precisely the person who had rented out the sound equipment, or that Milanović was seated in the room during a meeting of the Municipal Board with Democratic Montenegro President Bečić, even though the photograph clearly shows that there was no sound equipment in the room.
The conclusion that Milanović knowingly committed the criminal offence is further supported by a statement he gave to the media on 17 September, in which he claimed that he had ceased to be a member of Democratic Montenegro four years earlier, which is contrary to the fact that he was elected as a member of the party’s Municipal Board on 1 May 2026.
Although Milanović’s name has since been removed from the website of Democratic Montenegro (after 30 July 2026), it is clear that the subsequent deletion of his name cannot erase previously publicly available information, nor the recollections of those who attended those gatherings with him, nor can it replace evidence of the date and legal basis on which his party office ceased.
Given that this is a criminal offence prosecuted ex officio, we proposed that the Basic State Prosecutor’s Office bring charges against Miroslav Bobo Milanović for the criminal offence of forgery of a document under Article 412 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro. The criminal complaint also proposes that, during the court proceedings, the following persons be heard: Miroslav Bobo Milanović; Aleksa Bečić, President of the political party Democratic Montenegro; Tamara Vujović, an official of the political party Democratic Montenegro, as a resident of Herceg Novi familiar with the members of the party’s Municipal Board; as well as the President and all members of the Municipal Board of Democratic Montenegro in Herceg Novi.
We hope that, among the large number of party activists whom we have proposed be heard, there will be someone willing to tell the truth and confirm that Miroslav Bobo Milanović was, until recently, a member of the Municipal Board.
The criminal complaint further proposes that the prosecution obtain the documentation submitted by the candidate for membership of the RTCG Council, which is held by the Parliament of Montenegro, in particular the statement by which candidate Milanović confirmed that there were no impediments to his appointment, as well as the documentation of the Municipal Board of Democratic Montenegro in Herceg Novi.
CCE and the Media Centre consider it particularly problematic that there is a blatant attempt to violate the Law on RTCG in order to advance party interests within the RTCG Council, as well as the fact that Minister of Culture and Media Tamara Vujović has so far failed to speak out and defend the implementation of the media laws in whose preparation she participated.
Media Centre
Centre for Civic Education (CCE)