PODGORICA, 09.03.2018. – The main hearing in the case of the lawsuit of Gojko Raičević, journalist and editor of the portal IN4S, against the Ministry of Internal Affairs was ended with the closing arguments of his lawyer Gorica Vujisić. Raičević sued the Ministry because he was beaten by police officers several times, during 2015.
In a month, parties in this proceeding will know the decision of the Basic Court in Podgorica on Raičević’s lawsuit. Raičević claims that he was tortured three times i.e. that he was brutally beaten in the period from October 17 to 24, 2015 during the protests in Podgorica of the political opposition alliance DF.
Since the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Police Directorate did not identify police officers who had beaten Raičević, he filed a lawsuit requesting EUR 75,000 for non-pecuniary damage. Raičević requested compensation of EUR 40,000 for mental anguish caused by breach of honor and reputation and unreasonable deprivation of liberty. He also requested compensation of EUR 20,000 due to violation of professional dignity, EUR 10,000 for caused physical pain, and EUR 5,000 for suffered fear. Default interest should be calculated on all amounts, from the moment of court decision to the payment.
“During the proceedings, the allegations of the lawsuit were proven, that Raičević was performing his tasks as a journalist and that Articles 3 and 10 of the European Convention were violated because the state failed to conduct an effective investigation in order to detect perpetrators. The state did nothing to detect them, although there were conditions for it. It is a conspiracy to not discover the perpetrators” said Vujisić, adding that the compensation demanded by Raičević is not only a satisfaction for him, but also a lesson to the state that it cannot be unpunished.
Protector of Property and Legal Interest of Montenegro, Minja Radović, proposed the lawsuit to be rejected as unfounded.