Civic Alliance expresses deep concern regarding yesterday’s session of the Committee for Security and Defense of the Parliament of Montenegro, which, in accordance with the Rules of Procedure, should exercise conscientious parliamentary control of the work of security bodies and services, instead of serving as a platform for party calculations.
The control hearing of the Acting Director of the Police Administration, Lazar Šćepanović, titled: “The acting of the competent authorities in the case in which the suspect is a member of the security of the President of the Parliament of Montenegro”, instead of contributing to clarifying the circumstances and providing answers to specific questions, opened new doubts and strained institutional relations.
It is especially worrying that on several occasions during the session, the focus was diverted from the main topic of the control hearing, so instead of discussing institutional failures in the Mandić case, we witnessed political exaggeration and attempts to collect political points.
Therefore, the session of the Security and Defense Committee, which aroused great public interest, did not fulfill its control role in accordance with the expectations of the citizens. However, this is not the first time that committees, including those that are increasingly in the public eye these days, such as the Board of Inquiry, have failed to fulfill their purpose.
The confrontation and mutual shifting of responsibilities between the police and the judiciary, manifested through mutual denials (first of all the denials of the Basic Court to the claims of the Acting Director of the Police Directorate, and then his additional explanation in which he disputes the court’s positions), clearly indicate a dysfunctional relationship between institutions that should act in the interests of citizens. Also, although the participation of the Supreme State Prosecutor Milorad Marković was announced at yesterday’s control hearing, his absence and the provided explanation indicate a lack of cohesion of the most important institutions of the system.
In the context of the escalating security situation on the streets of Montenegro, marked by frequent confrontations with organized criminal groups, where the targets are often random passers-by, citizens rightly expect a coordinated, responsible and efficient reaction from the authorities, aimed at preserving the legal order.
Civic Alliance calls on the representatives of the government and the opposition, as well as the holders of public offices, not to undermine trust in institutions and not to inflame the feeling of insecurity among citizens. In addition, we emphasize that in the work of any parliamentary committee, the basic principles of the rule of law must not be neglected at any time, including the constitutional provision on the presumption of innocence from Article 35 of the Constitution of Montenegro, which politicians often ignore for personal or party benefit. Such behavior, especially at public sessions of parliamentary committees, in a deeply polarized society such as Montenegrin, we value as very dangerous and inadmissible.
Therefore, we once again appeal to all members of the parliamentary committees to show political maturity and to take seriously the trust that the citizens have placed in them, and to, without exception, always put the interests of the citizens above the party interests.
