The prominent opposition politician, Nebojša Medojević was, without a waiver of immunity on the 29. 11. in Montenegro arrested. He was to remain two months in imprisonment for contempt of court. Medojević defends himself by hunger strike.
Actually, should be in Montenegro, the world is in order. The dwarf state on the Adriatic sea was solved in 2006 of Serbia and foreign policy to the West-oriented. In the past year, Montenegro has been included in the Western military Alliance NATO, and ranks, according to some Western observers, as a pioneer among the EU-candidate States in the Balkans.
The shadow side of the Adriatic sea-Paradise
The country also has an ugly underbelly. It is internally divided politically. The opposition Alliance democratic Front (DF), the accused Medojević, gathered more pro-Serbian, and for the part of pro-Russian voters. Your enemy: the current Montenegrin President, Milo Đukanović. The strong man Montenegro ruled with his party of former Communists (DPS) continuously since the early 1990s. First of all, he was the ally of the former Serbian autocrat Slobodan Milošević, later he distanced himself from him.
The DF-politicians throw Đukanović authoritarian rule and corruption on a Grand scale. The British newspaper “The Independent” described Đukanović as one of the richest politicians – even in the world. This wealth he earned in a country that has only 620.000 inhabitants.
The Mighty nervous
It is exactly at this weak point Medojević pierced for years. The spirited politicians have mastered the art of rhetorical escalation perfectly. The political leadership responded a few years ago with the establishment of a special Prosecutor. Your task: the EU anti-corruption guidelines. At a special investigator with the far-reaching of the government appointed powers close to a lawyer, Milivoje Katnić.
Since the end of November in the hunger strike: Nebojša Medojević
This special investigator accused Medojević, in February, to have bribes in the amount of 100,000 euros accepted. He also accused him to have some war crimes during the Serbian-Montenegrin siege of Dubrovnik in the Yugoslav secession war in the early 1990s, committed. Katnić was, in fact, a war participant, but the evidence that he was involved in war crimes, are not surfaced until today.
Special investigator Katnić, which is counted in addition to the state President Đukanović and Prime Minister Duško Marković to the most powerful men in the state, had Medojevićs taunts long, for a member of Parliament enjoys immunity and is guaranteed by the Constitution. It is canceled in the case of serious violations of the law, but not because of a libel suit. The special investigator Katnić still found ways.
Law or arbitrariness?
In the night of the 29. November, the police stopped the car in the Medojević with a colleague from a turbulent Parliament session in the capital, Podgorica, drove home and arrested him. Katnić was assumed to have a loophole in the law discovered, accordingly, the immunity applies only to a charge related arrests, but not for a kind of coercive detention. Since his arrest, Medojević is on a hunger strike.
His wife Marina told the Deutsche Welle that she could visit her husband only two or three Times per month. “Since I was already three Times with him, I can’t see him 15 days”. These two weeks may be for Medojević, personally and politically crucial. The state of health of the 53-Year-old is deteriorating more and more due to his refusal of Food.
The legal complaint against the coercive detention has already been rejected. Soon, the constitutional court decides. DF-followers gathered last Sunday (9.11.) a protest rally in Podgorica. Their leaders warned already before the civil war. More protests are announced.
International observation
Zaran Radulović, the Deputy editor-in-chief of the independent weekly “Monitor,” believes that the special investigator has this personal campaign is probably the support of the Prime Minister, but not necessarily that of the President. The government wants to distract from the miserable results of their policy, Đukanović have enough problems with its Image in the world. “There is a glimmer of hope in this constellation, perhaps the constitutional court will stop this madness”, said Radulović of the DW and put in perspective right after his statement. “What appears as reasonable and logical, is, according to experience, not necessarily what needs to be done.”
Stone Kingdom and abroad, disputed, Montenegro’s strong man Milo Đukanović
The political scientist and opposition politician Vladimir Pavićević says that the Montenegrin authorities respect the Constitution grossly miss: “The political immunity is secure – contrary to the original Intention, the freedom of expression of MPs – due to this arrest up to the futility of the conversation gutted,” he told DW.
Medojević’s wife requested already by the EU, on the “violation of fundamental human rights to respond” in Montenegro. She is worried and angry. “Montenegro is a mountain village in the possession of Milo Đukanović. His people failed brutally against human rights. The people are scared”.
The head of the Belgrade foreign office of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Norbert Beckmann-Dierkes, Serbia and Montenegro, explained to DW that the detention of Medojević was internationally noticed: “To the agenda, the government will not be able to move on Montenegro. Without the rule of law, no EU-accession. A policy that operates with a double bottom is here.”