Supreme state prosecutor Ivica Stankovic said there was “no hidden agenda” in his binding order to chief special prosecutor Milivoje Katnic not to place DF’s Andrija Mandic and Milan Knezevic in detention, weekend edition of Dnevne Novine newspaper writes.
Asked whether his decision might undermine the professional authority of the chief special prosecutor, Stankovic said that the Prosecutor’s Office was a unique and independent institution and that the Special Prosecutor’s office would continue its investigation in the 16 October coup case.
“The most important thing is not to look for hidden reasons, because there are none. We should enable the chief special prosecutor to act in this case without obstruction of justice,” said Stankovic.
He explained that he did not issue the binding order for the first time and that he had done that before. However, the particular circumstances in this case attracted more public attention, Stankovic added.
“The fact that I issued a binding order to chief special prosecutor in a case relating to creating a criminal organisation just means that I have applied a legal standard, which refers to internal relations in prosecutor’s office organisation,” the SSP said.
He did not comment on the continuing threats and insults, which have been sent to Katnic recently.
Katnic continues to run this criminal case, which is likely to end in court, with a great attention of the public and the international community. A part of the case has already been closed through a series of signed plea bargains with defendants who admitted that they were involved in the criminal organisation, which was supposed to carry out a terrorist attack on 16 October last year, to attack the citizens and police officers, the institutions, but also to capture the former Montenegrin prime minister Milo Djukanovic.
Bulatovic: Stankovic on the move again
One of Democratic Front (DF) leaders and MP Predrag Bulatovic told Dnevne Novine weekend edition that he welcomed Staknovic’s intervention, who stopped the arrests of MPs Andrija Mandic and Milan Knezevic two days ago.
However, Bulatovic said that Stankovic was on the move again and that he looked forward to SSP’s swift response to the criminal charges filed by the DF week against the Parliament Speaker Ivan Brajovic and the Administrative Committee chairman Luigj Skrelja for alleged violations of the Rules of Procedure and forging documents, during the proceedings of lifting Mandic and Knezevic’s immunity.
“The further course of the process depends on the Prosecutor’s Office’s response,” he said, noting that Mandic and Knezevic duly responded to the special prosecutor’s invitation on Monday. On the same day, DF will appeal to the Constitutional Court of Montenegro against allegedly illegally made documentation based on which the parliamentary majority voted on removing the two MPs’ immunity.
Bulatovic said that when asked whether the DF leaders were willing to contribute to the peaceful unfolding of the criminal proceedings initiated by the Special State Prosecutor’s Office against Mandic and Knezevic. The two MPs are suspected of creating a criminal organisation which was supposed to stage a state coup and attack state institutions and citizens on the election day on 16 October last year.
“DF’s position is clear. We think that Milivoje Katnic is a part of Milo Djukanovic’s organised criminal group who fabricated the coup, with the aim to win a parliamentary majority and demonise DF and its leaders. This fabricated process complicates all the other things,” Bulatovic said.
According to him, the culmination occurred on the day when the Parliament held session in a very complex political and security circumstances.
“Therefore DF welcomes Stankovic’s binding order, who banned the detention of DF leaders. We urged him many times to join the case in the framework of his powers, which are not minor, and he did it at the last moment,” Bulatovic said, explaining the motives and expectations from the criminal charges DF filed against Brajovic and Skrelja.
“We drafted the lawsuit with highly professional and expert team of lawyers. We expect the Supreme State Prosecutor’s Office to respond to these charges as quickly and efficiently as it did in the case of charges for incidents in the Parliament,” Bulatovic said.
Konjevic: Prosecutors in charge of calming political tensions
SDP MP Rasko Konjevic said that Stankovic’s binding order could not to reflect on his professional authority and the further course of the process, which should be carried out to the end.
“The binding order is in accordance with the law. It is a matter of approach to a process. I do not think that this decision could disrupt one’s integrity, because it is made in accordance with the law,” Konjevic told DN weekend edition.
Commenting on the political dimension of the Stankovic’s decision, Konjevic said that the Prosecutor’s Office was a unique and independent authority, which should decide on the basis of the Constitution and the law.
“SSP was elected by three-fifths majority in Parliament and this kind of legitimacy obliges him to make decisions aimed at calming political tensions, certainly taking into account the principle that everyone should be equal before the law,” said Konjevic.
