PODGORICA, 17.01.2024. – The Government tasked the Ministry of Internal Affairs yesterday to submit reports and additional reports to the Supreme State Prosecution and the Police Directorate regarding several attacks and threats to journalists.
The report mention attack on journalist Olivera Lakić on March 7, 2012, the attack on journalists Danica Janković and Slobodan Čukić on August 7, 2022, the attack on the editor-in-chief of M Portal, Danica Nikolić, on September 10, 2022, the attack on journalist Duško Mihailović of the daily newspaper Pobjeda on July 16, 2024 (supplement), the attack on Duško Mihailović of Pobjeda from July 13, 2022, and the attack on journalist Milica Minić from the portal Standard and A1 TV, along with conclusions.
The commission’s report mentions that in the most recent case of the attack on the editor of the crime section in the daily newspaper Pobjeda, Ana Raičković, the body contacted the relevant authorities requesting the documentation. The Police Directorate has not provided a response by the report’s conclusion, while the Supreme State Prosecution sent information that it could not submit the files as the procedure is in the investigative phase.
Since its establishment, the commission has prepared dozens of reports covering attacks on journalists, media workers, and media property.
During the reporting period, from April 10, 2024, to December 1, 2024, the commission recorded attacks on journalists and requested documentation regarding actions taken by the relevant authorities. Documentation was requested for the attack on TV Vijesti journalist Alisa Hajdarpašić while performing her work duties on April 14, 2024, in Bijelo Polje; the obstruction of the TV Vijesti team on March 14, 2024, from conducting a live broadcast for the morning program “Boje jutra” from Tološka forest in Podgorica; threats against employees at Televizija E on February 20, 2024, who received multiple threatening comments on Facebook from two profiles; and threats to RTCG journalist Nataša Baranin on January 6, 2024, in Podgorica. It was noted that the Police Directorate had provided responses, but the Supreme State Prosecution had not.
It was also mentioned that on November 29, the commission received a statement from the State Prosecution regarding the recommendations from the previous report, individual information, and an updated table of cases of attacks on journalists.
“Since the statements arrived after several months, and the commission was obligated to prepare a regular report that could not be further delayed, its analysis of these statements will be done subsequently and included in the next report,” the report states.
The commission also contacted the General Secretariat of the Government and requested information on the status of implementing the commission’s recommendation for the Government to announce a monetary reward of at least one million euros to any person or persons providing information that could help clarify the murder of Duško Jovanović, but no response had been received by the time the report was concluded.
The chairman of the commission is Mihailo Jovović, editor-in-chief of Vijesti, and its members include Dalibor Tomović, lawyer, representative of non-governmental organizations; Dražen Živković, editor-in-chief of TV PRVA; Sead Sadiković, journalist, representative of the Montenegrin Association of Professional Journalists; Ranko Vujović, executive secretary of the Media Council for Self-Regulation; Nebojša Asanović, lawyer, representative of the daily newspaper Dan; Predrag Nikolić, representative of the Trade Union of Media of Montenegro; Predrag Šuković, representative of the Police Directorate; Katarina Vujović, representative of the Agency for National Security; Jelena Đaletić, representative of the Supreme State Prosecution; Miroslav Turković, representative of the Higher State Prosecution; and Velimir Furtula.