20. 06. 2014

PODGORICA: GOVERNMENT OFFERS ONE MILLION EUR FOR INFORMATION ON MURDER OF JOURNALIST

Podgorica, 20.06.2014 (Srna, Mondo) - The Government of Montenegro renewed today the one million Euro reward for information which would solve of the murder of the editor-in-chief of Podgorica daily "Dan" Duško Jovanović.

This decision was made at the recommendation of the Commission to investigate attacks against journalists, which also proposed rewards to be offered for solving other attacks against journalists.

President of the Commission Nikola Marković called on the Government officials to essentially, and not only formally, act according with obligations the state has taken upon itself.

"By accepting the Commission's report, the Government assumed the obligation to offer a reward of one million Euros for information that could lead to shedding light on the murder of Duško Jovanović, but also to institute rewards for all the other cases of attacks against journalists and property of media outlets," said Marković.

He said that, after a long time, this would be the first indication that the government intends to put an end to violence against media and public workers.

Marković said that by adopting the report, the Government committed itself to work on creating a positive environment for development of investigative journalism and media freedom, all this at a time when "an atmosphere of persecution of free media and demonizing of journalists has existed for months."

"Therefore, I call on Government representatives to, within their authority, raise the issue of professional responsibility and determine why even the most brutal cases of violence against media workers have not been resolved, and to secure basic work conditions for journalists investigating cases of organized crime and political corruption," said Marković.

He says that if this does not happen, one could conclude that the state is willing to resolve only cases without political implications, and that the establishment of the Commission and the adoption of its first report is only used to cover up the lack of specfic results in investigating attacks on journalists.

The recommendations of the Commission state that, based on the review of evidence gathered so far, this body has a reason to believe that the assailants and those who ordered the attack against "Dan" journalist Lidija Nikčević were found.

Assessing this development as a good first step in concluding the investigation of the attack on Nikčević, the Commission considers this a true example of good police work in which the investigation was successfully concluded, but states that the case will be finalized only after a court verdict.

The editor-in-chief of Podgorica daily "Dan" Duško Jovanović was killed on 27 May 2004 in front of the newspaper's premises. It has not been resolved to date who ordered and who performed this execution.

For now, the only defendant in this case, to be sentenced to 18 years in prison as an accomplice, is Damir Mandić from Podgorica.