English

Ten to Eight – VukšićLeaks

You’re reading a daily contextual review of the news that marked the previous weekend.

By Ljubomir Filipović, CdM observer

What first to comment may be the right question for this Monday. Maybe to mention that Montenegro women’s national handball team will play at the Olympics. Well done!

VukšićLeaks

Ahead of the control hearing of Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Dritan Abazović, on Friday, he tweeted that he didn’t have anything to worry about, but was not sure that other could say the same. Everybody first thought of the head of the ANB, Mr Dejan Vukšić, as MP Raško Konjević, a member of the parliamentary Security Committee, had found out that he [Mr Vukšić] broke the law by revealing classified information. After the hearing, the DPM confirmed this to the press, reiterating that the Simijanović affair was inflated, but that Mr Vukšić made a mistake and that he was going to “talk to him”.

PM Zdravko Krivokapić then addressed the nation, defending Mr Vukšić and indirectly accusing Mr Konjević for breaking the law.

Mr Nebojša Medojević, a member of the parliament from the government, called the entire matter a scandal. The DPS MP and ex-minister of defense, Mr Predrag Bošković, also reacted negatively.

What exactly happened in my opinion: Mr Vukšić allegedly shared data about resident CIA agents, their tasks and plans. He shared them with MPs of the Defense and Security Committee, comprising people who maintain close ties with Kremlin. This will certainly trigger diplomatic and other consequences but, unfortunately, we won’t get to know much about it because these things are not public. It’s likely that trust of the U.S. administration and NATO partners will weaken and that’s why everybody’s urging Mr Vukšić to resign. Was it about his bad intention or he simply didn’t know what he was doing – the prosecutor’s office shall find out.

Incident in the town of Bijelo Polje

On Saturday night, we all heard about the attack on the journalist, Mr Sead Sadiković. Politicians and parties from the government and the opposition reacted immediately and condemned the attack. Mr Sadiković told both the police and public that “five to six men” attacked him and “were beating him with the Montenegrin flag”. We were all angry and I personally reacted as well, considering it a cowardly act. The same night, misinformation regarding the incident flooded the media, some even noting that Mr Sadiković was treading on the flag. Another misinformation, which sounded impossible, was telling that he was the one who caused the incident, stealing the flag from those same men. Footages of the incident went viral in the media tomorrow morning. One was shot by a cell phone and we couldn’t see anything, but was claiming that Mr Sadiković stole the flag – actually, it was not interpreted correctly.

However, two authentic footages from the video surveillance system were posted afterwards, showing that Mr Sadiković, being provoked and probably offended by participants of the incident, was running after their car, coming close to the car window, taking their flag and running into them. After that, a man from the car got out of it and attacked Mr Sadiković. Other passers-by prevented a major incident and separated them.

Participants of the incident, Mr Omerović and Mr Dizdarević, were arrested and put in detention for up to 72 hours. The police noted that Mr Sadiković first run into them, but designated the incident Mr Sadiković’s “attempt to make contact”. A footage posted afterwards showed Mr Sadiković holding the taken flag. A protest was announced because of the arrest of Mr Omerović and Mr Dizdarević.

Leposavić’s agreement with the SPC

Former major legal advisor of the Serbian Orthodox Church, SPC, in Montenegro and current Justice Minister, Mr Vladimir Leposavić, announced signing of a comprehensive agreement on cooperation. According to him, the SPC is “a traditional church, i.e. a religious community, that the state of Montenegro forgot to sign a comprehensive agreement on cooperation with”, but “that will be solved soon”.

Several lawyers dealing with this issue reacted to Mr Leposavić’s announcement. First of all, Mr Nikola Belada, who warned and reminded of amendments to the law which enabled a privileged and unprincipled position of the SPC in Montenegro. Mr Dragan Šoć and Mr Aleksandar Zeković also commented on this announcement on the public broadcaster, RTCG.

While the SPC in Montenegro is demonstrating power, bishop Porfirije told the Croatian media that the SPC didn’t have and doesn’t have political goals. I’d like to remind you that the Bishop welcomed Mr Andrija Mandić and Mr Milan Knežević ahead of the Nikšić elections. Not to mention some previous events.

Prime Minister’s consultations

The Prime Minister called representatives of the ruling parties to come for consultations in order to overcome the crisis. While the coronavirus is spreading at an alarming rate, while the information is leaking everywhere, and nothing is happening with the state budget, he got another slap, that is, a negative assessment by the Venice Commission referring to the prosecutorial laws. The DF is not giving up and won’t vote for any law until these controversial laws are not amended even though Mr Milan Knežević, as he himself claims, was offered to be the deputy prime minister in order to forget about the entire matter.

Following the PM’s call for gathering the European forces, the EU Ambassador, Ms Oana Cristina Popa sent a similar message, while Mr Ivan Vujović of the SDP told Mr Bečić and Mr Abazović “to choose between the EU and the DF”.

That’s all for today. Have a nice day.

 

 

 

Send this to a friend