The case of the Kotor mayor president of the Kotor municipality, Vladimir Jokic, has been officially in the hands of the prosecution since yesterday.
Kotor Basic State Prosecutor’s Office has officially formed the case in order to determine whether Jokic had dual citizenship – Montenegrin and Serbian – at the time when he was candidate on the Democrats’ list on the local election and when he was elected as president of the municipality. Since Montenegrin law does not allow people having Serbian and Montenegrin citizenship to be elected public officials, the prosecutors’ investigation will show if Jokic will suffer any consequences of running for office while holding the dual citizenship.
Chairman of the Bar Association Zdravko Begovic told CdM that Jokic’s political status will be questioned if it is established that he violated law.
“If he had dual citizenship – Montenegrin and Serbian – at the time he was a candidate for the Kotor city council, his status as councillor and mayor will be questioned,” Begovic said.
He points out that it is now early to talk about possible criminal liability.
“It should be determined whether Jokic was aware that he could not be nominated as a councillor. In any case,” Begovic says adding that all the relevant facts will be clear once investigation is finished.
He notes that if the prosecutor’s office has initiated the proceedings, there must be serious suspicion that a criminal offense has been committed.
“The prosecutor’s office should be given a chance to check the facts. But since the proceedings have been initiated, there is a possibility that the Criminal Code was violated,” Begovic said.
As a reminder, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has recently initiated citizenship deprivation against Jokic. The ministry has launched the proceedings ex officio after the Police Directorate submitted Jokic’s certificate of citizenship of the Republic of Serbia, which was issued after 3 June 2006.
