Dear colleagues,

I am addressing you following the letter that you have received by a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Mr Milan Knežević and the Democratic Front (political coalition in the Montenegrin Parliament) for the purpose of proving you with full information, but without the intention to interfere in decisions of independent judiciary bodies in Montenegro and comment their verdicts.

By a verdict of the Basic Court in Podgorica from October 2017, Mr Milan Knežević was found guilty of criminal offense - attacking public officers while exercising their official duty and he was sentenced to seven months in prison. The said verdict was modified, in the part relating to the decision on punishment, by a verdict of the High Court in Podgorica in January 2018, so Mr Milan Knežević was sentenced for the said offence to four months in prison. The explanatory statement of the verdict by the High Court says, inter alia, that allegations of the appeal that Mr Milan Knežević’s right to a fair trial was violated, guaranteed by Art. 6 ECHR were not justified, because his trial was conducted within a reasonable time, it was public, it was held before the independent and impartial court established by law, the verdict was publicly pronounced, the trial was conducted in a language which the defendant understood and he clearly stated that during the defence procedure, he was provided with adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his defence, he was defending himself  with the assistance of the attorney-at-law that he himself had chosen, whereby time and conditions necessary for the preparation of the defence were provided to them.

As I believe you already now, there is an ongoing process before the High Court in Podgorica against a number of defendants for the criminal offense of creating a criminal organisation and a criminal offense of attempted terrorism. Mr Milan Knežević is one of the defendants in this proceeding, and he is charged with committing a criminal offence of creating a criminal organisation referred to in Art. 40 paragraph 2, relating to para. 1 and 6 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro.  In this regard, the court rejected his request for the temporary return of his travel document in order to participate in the Winter session of the PACE, bearing in mind that the proceedings are pending against him, that there is a large number of defendants in the proceedings, that the main hearings are scheduled in very short time intervals, and that, inter alia, the hearings were scheduled at times when this official trip was planned.

I believe that it is also important to note that, for the purpose of providing full transparency of this procedure, the President of the Supreme Court decided to make this trial public also through live broadcasting on the Public Television. As announced by the Supreme Court, this decision was made considering that it was necessary for the main hearings in this case to be audio-visually recorded throughout the whole proceeding, and bearing in mind that the criminal case related to the event in which the criminal proceeding against several persons is conducted, is aimed at protecting the most important social values, the constitutional order and security of Montenegro and goods protected by international law, and which caused the highest level of public interest, and respecting the principle of the right to a fair trial and guarantee of the publicity of court proceedings, and in this connection, the necessity of informing the public about criminal proceedings, as well as the need of media to report on the work of the courts, which enables an insight into the functioning of the criminal justice system and contributes to the fairness of court proceedings.

Furthermore, I would like to point out that the parliamentary Gender Equality Committee and the Committee on Human Rights and Freedoms as well as the Committee on International Relations and Emigrants have condemned the Milan Knežević’s attack on the reputation and honour of one of female members of the Montenegrin Parliament, pointing out that it is necessary to put an end to such behaviour and send a strong message that hate speech, sexism, insinuations, and lascivious behaviour are not considered a normal kind of activity by politicians, especially by MPs, even if the MP is serving a prison sentence; because it is their job to represent the people with dignity, with the appreciation and respect of all female and male colleagues, and not to erode the moral values of the Montenegrin society.

Allow me to use this opportunity to remind you that in the previous period Montenegro has achieved significant results in the field of judiciary, at the strategic, legislative and institutional level, that concrete results have been achieved in the fight against corruption and organised crime and that the efforts have been made to further the promotion of the electoral legislation and to address the ODIHR recommendations sent after the 2016 parliamentary elections.

The progress in the field of judiciary has also been recognised by the representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly, especially by the PACE co-rapporteurs in the post-monitoring dialogue, who focused their last visit to Montenegro in October last year namely on the issues of independence of the judiciary and the fight against corruption. Their findings, as you know, are set out in the Resolution on the progress of the monitoring procedure adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly in the Winter Meeting this year, welcoming the efforts that Montenegro has put in the process of judicial reform and recognising the impact that the refusal of the opposition to participate in the work of the Montenegrin Parliament has on the possibility of continuing the reform process in the country.

It is also important to note that, during their stay in Montenegro, the PACE co-rapporteurs had the opportunity to discuss the political situation in the country, the issues of judiciary independence and efficiency as well as the fight against corruption with numerous representatives of state institutions and political parties. The representatives of the Democratic Front, despite the interest shown by the co-rapporteurs and them being invited, did not attend the meeting between the co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly and the representatives of the MP groups of the parliamentary opposition where they discussed the said issues.

I assure you that Montenegro is committed to the values and principles of the Council of Europe and to the continuation of the reform process, aimed at addressing the recommendations of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, especially those concerning the post-monitoring dialogue procedure and the achievement of further progress in the negotiation process with the European Union. After fulfilling one of the key foreign policy goals in June of the previous year - NATO membership - Montenegro is ready to open the remaining three negotiation chapters with the European Union this year and to fully commit itself to the reforms that will lead to the final closing of the negotiating process.