PODGORICA, 24.09.2022. – The heads of the competent prosecutor’s offices should conduct an inspection of all cases of attacks on journalists and media property in which the investigation takes a long time or is ineffective and, if necessary, give binding instructions to the acting prosecutors.
This is one of the recommendations of the Commission for monitoring the actions of competent authorities in investigations of cases of threats and violence against journalists, murders of journalists and attacks on media property, reports “Vijesti”.
The government adopted their report for the period from February 10 to June 20, 2022.
“The Commission recommends that the Supreme State Prosecutor and the heads of competent higher State Prosecutor’s Offices consider the possibility of entrusting certain cases in which the investigation takes a long time or is ineffective to other prosecutors in that Prosecutor’s Office or other State Prosecutor’s Offices in accordance with the law,” the Commission states.
They recommend the Supreme State Prosecutor’s Office and the competent Higher Prosecutor’s Offices to carry out immediate supervision over all cases of attacks on journalists and media property and to submit a proposal for determining disciplinary responsibility to the Prosecutor’s Council or to determine whether there were omissions in the actions of prosecutors, in investigations that last a long time or are ineffective – if there is reasonable doubt about this.
“The Commission recommends that the Supreme State Prosecutor’s Office submit to the Commission the latest version of the ‘special balance sheet of achieved results, which contains all the cases formed on the occasion of attacks on journalists and their property and which describes the relevant evidentiary actions carried out by the prosecutor in individual cases’, as well as that the updated table, if it is still kept, is also submitted to the Commission”, the last recommendation states.
During the Government session, it was also said that the Commission addressed “the foreign political partners of the USA and Great Britain, including the FBI, in order to do their job better”.
The Commission’s tasks are to determine the plan and dynamics of gathering facts and determining other circumstances related to investigations into cases of threats and violence against journalists, murders of journalists and attacks on media property, and to this end cooperate with the authorities responsible for conducting these investigations.
“On the basis of the information received and the observed circumstances in connection with the conducted investigations, prepare an overview of the current course of the conducted investigations, prepare an opinion on the effective way in which the conduct of the investigation could be improved and, for this purpose, propose concrete measures that should be taken,” it states in Article 3 of the Decision on the Formation of the Commission for Monitoring the Actions of Competent Authorities in Investigations of Cases of Threats and Violence Against Journalists, Murders of Journalists, and Attacks on Media Property.
