PODGORICA, 26.11.2017 – Stoning of TV Pink M building is among the unresolved cases on attacks on media and journalist in Montenegro and the conducted investigation of this case was dealt with by the Commission for Monitoring the Actions of the Competent Authorities in the Investigation of Cases of Threats and Violence Against Journalists, Assassinations of Journalists and Attacks on Media Property.
In its second quarterly report, numerous omissions were noted and, among other things, it was concluded that the police dealt with TV Pink M case only one day.
TV Pink M building was stoned the first time on October 18, 2015, following a protest in the organization of the Democratic Front, and the second on September 7, 2016, when NN person stopped in front of the building and began to stone it. On both occasions glasses on the building were broken and during the first incident a journalist/editor Ivana Drobnjak was hit by a stone (which broke the glass) in the neck. She had minor body injures.
“State Prosecutor Jelena Protić was informed about everything. Subsequent actions were taken by the deputy prosecutors Danka Ivanovic Đerić and Zoran Vučinić. From the submitted documentation it is not clear what the Basic State Prosecution did regarding this case, except that on several occasions it requested from the Police Directorate to provide them documentation and that it conducted a hearing of two employees of TV Pink M. The last action taken by the Basic State Prosecution (repeated urgency to the Police Directorate to deliver them complete documentation on the case) was done on December 16, 2015. After that, Police Directorate delivered files on January 22, 2016”, states the Commission’s report.
Several employees of Pink M, as well as a citizen of M.J. for whom it was suspected that broke the glasses, but neither the police nor the Prosecution did anything about it.
“At the hearing M.J. said that he was returning from the protest through Sloboda Street and that he noticed near the drinking fountain that a group of men was running after a person with a mask on a face. He approached them when one of them caught the masked person. He separated them and continued. He claims that he did not see anybody stoning any building and that he did not take part in that. On the day of the incident, the TV Pink cameraman Danilo Novaković gave a statement too. He said that he was returning from the protest, where he was working, when near the drinking fountain in Sloboda Street he noticed a group of people who was shouting “he broke it, broke it, caught him”. He pointed out his camera to a person for whom he assumed that these shouts relate to. Cameraman said that it seemed to him that a man, whom he had known from seeing, said “so what if I am”. Later on, in TV station during the examination of video his colleague recognized a man for whom a group of citizens ran after. It was M.J”, says the report.
On the video that was submitted to the Commission by the Prosecution, among other persons, MP Veljko Vasiljević can be seen, while MP Janko Vučinić is mentioned in the police records. At the video number of citizens, eyewitnesses, can be clearly seen and their identity could have been determined easily, but that was not done.
In the conclusions, it was noted that the Basic State Prosecution ordered the examination of the medical records of the injured Ivana Drobnjak, examined her and cameraman Danilo Novović, but they never examined a person which Novaković described as the potential perpetrator of the criminal act.
“Having in mind that there was a video, immediately available to the police, and also to the Basic State Prosecutors Office, which shows eyewitnesses running after a possible attacker (most likely M.J.), remains unclear why the case had no epilogue. The Prosecution did nothing to continue the process after it had received the documentation from the Police Directorate in January 2016. The Commission did not receive any decision which would indicate that something has been done. None of the eye-witnesses on the video, whose identity can be easily determined, was not invited for a hearing neither by the police nor prosecution. MP Veljko Vasiljević who was on the sport (as recorded by the camera) was not invited for a hearing either. In the case files it is written that MP Janko Vučinić was there, but he was not as well invited for a hearing.”, was concluded in the Report.