Good morning! Last night, Petar Komnenic enabled Rad Milosevic to publicly defend himself, during the show Milosevic calmly and calculatedly talked about all issues of public interest when it comes to him, including the one about the voice message.
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What do we know about the Rad Milosevic case?
It is very important to have in Montenegro a media such as Vijesti TV for an ally. The influence on public opinion that Vijesti TV, as a dominant channel, has, significantly affects the public’s perception of an issue, and so it is in this case as well. Such public power should be accompanied by a commensurate public responsibility. The closeness of this media company to URA is a general point of Montenegrin politics that should not be overly proven. The most visible columnists and shareholders of the company are in the council of this party, their list was supported by journalists and commentators of this newspaper, and in addition to this, the general perception of the majority of the public is such that Vijesti created Positive Montenegro, as well as URA, which, for those with a shorter memory, was created as a spin-off of Positive.
That is why the journalistic ethics behind the decision to call an official of this party on television, while the process surrounding the theft of smuggled cigarettes is still at the beginning, is very questionable, in order to allow him to tell “his side of the story”. It would be unquestionable that everyone has the same chance at Vijesti, and that the journalist has thoroughly researched the topic he is dealing with. Vijesti has long gone beyond the scope of what a mediator/media should do, and has taken on the role of a moral judge with very entrenched and clearly visible political prejudices, behind which political bias is hidden.
But let’s go back to Rade Milosevic and his performance from last night, which was technically excellent. Full of self-confidence, calm, composed – everything that the performance of one who has been unjustly accused cannot be. Imagine being picked up in the dead of night and held for questioning until morning for something you didn’t do. To have the public crucify you for something you have nothing to do with. Would you be calm and composed?
But this is no argument in favor of Milosevic’s objective or subjective responsibility. Nor would I venture to give it with limited knowledge of the case. But there are several levels of responsibility, which was well stated by the journalist last night. And all of them are criminally punishable. The first is the responsibility for the possible creation of a criminal organization, in which Milosevic would be the one who organized the theft of confiscated cigarettes, and their return to the market. The second is abuse of official position, which would mean that Milosevic knowingly used his authority to enable someone to benefit, under duress or because of the promise of some material benefit. The third would be unscrupulous work, which would mean that Milosevic was simply lazy and superficial.
Komnenic touched on the first two forms of responsibility only briefly towards the end of the show when he mentioned Mrs. Bulatovic, whose relationship with Rade Milosevic was placed in the context of the potential theft of cigarettes by the clan to which Mrs. Bulatovic supposedly belongs.
Most of last night’s show was reduced to discussing the third scenario, where Komnenic asked Milosevic the most because he allegedly did not take better care that cigarettes were not stolen, and because he appointed people who are already deprived of liberty. Milosevic defended himself by delegating all decision-making related to the process of destroying cigarettes to the commission. Down to the smallest details, such as the choice of the company where the cigarettes were destroyed, as well as the choice of the carrier. And what is even more important, he also defended himself with a potential conspiracy and set-up by “parts of the ANB”, specifically Drago Spicanovic and Savo Kentera, whom he, together with Rasko Konjevic, brought into some vague, nebulous connection with a certain Pavicevic, who is allegedly mentioned in operational files as the organizer of a good part of cigarette smuggling in Montenegro. Last night, Pavicevic immediately threatened to file a lawsuit, which was prepared on his behalf by lawyer Zoran Piperovic.
So the Special State Prosecutor (SDT) will do its job and deal with this issue. But in general, there seems to be a serious vow of silence about cigarette smuggling in Montenegro. No one is giving us full information, and everyone is a suspect. The question is, are they all involved, or is there fear in Montenegro of the people behind this lucrative, huge business? Officials and technical staff are arrested, while the orderers and criminals behind everything are never mentioned at all. Neither in relation to drugs nor to cigarettes. Why? Is the state really stronger than all others, as President Djukanovic claims?
As we all lose trust in the state, these are becoming the most important questions for investigative journalists, in which a lot of Western taxpayers’ funds have been invested in recent decades. If this is the biggest problem, which was strongly highlighted by the British government among the first, let a serious media investigation be done and finally expose smuggling in Montenegro. Can we do it, or after the arrest of some, the established practices and processes will be inherited by others? Like in the last episode of the series “The Wire”. What is the invisible hand that controls the processes? Nikoladis would say: “capitalism”. I prefer when the culprits have names and surnames. As Hamdija Pozderac would say, I am more concerned about the bearers of tendencies than about tendencies (source: Nikolaidis again).
But, in the end, such a serious phenomenon cannot be stopped with dilettantes from Dritan Abazovic’s party, a man who, with his superficiality and laziness and his motivation for fame, money and sex, cannot be a role model for other political leaders. Rade Milosevic is a leader made according to the mould that Abazovic was made according to, and hence Bulatovic, and hence that nasty voice message, and hence the exposure to the influence of criminal circles. A leader who really wants to deal with the inherited problems of Montenegro must be solid as a rock, impenetrable, ready to make sacrifices. The sacrifice that Ukrainian soldiers are making these days. I am afraid that we do not have such in Montenegro.
That’s it for today and this week. See you again on Monday.
Kind regards,
Ljubomir Filipovic, CdM analyst
