This op-ed was written by Djurdja Radulovic, who was one of four journalists to win ARTICLE 19’s Ethical Journalism Award for the West Balkans
May this year marked 20 years since the murder of Duško Jovanović, the chief editor and owner of Dan, a newspaper that at the turn of the millennium reported on organsed crime involving cigarette smuggling in Montenegro.
Jovanović and the Dan editorial team faced numerous pressures and threats for years, and Jovanović was even beaten up in the entrance of his building several years before his murder. The political elite and criminal groups were in collusion at the time, resulting in Montenegro becoming one of the main centres of the tobacco mafia in the region. At the time of his murder, Jovanović was covering a detailed investigation with the Croatian weekly magazine Nacional, which, with numerous evidence and documents, exposed the details of cigarette smuggling, linking the then leader of Montenegro, Milo Đukanović, and his associates to illegal activities. Four years later, in 2008, the chief editor of Nacional, Ivo Pukanić, was also killed.
The murder of Duško Jovanović remains unsolved to this day, as do many other attacks on journalists, especially those who bravely dared to report on crime and corruption at the highest levels of power and thereby made enemies of the most powerful individuals in Montenegro. Every year, the European Commission highlights in its reports that Montenegro lacks sufficient progress in investigating attacks on journalists that occurred during the three-decade rule of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), with some investigations yielding no results. Besides the case of Duško Jovanović, Ivo Pukanić, and Dan, there have been attempts on the lives of Vijesti journalists Tufik Softić and Olivera Lakić, the beating up of Mladen Stojović and Željko Ivanović, the bombing attack on the Vijesti newsroom, and so on.
According to ARTICLE 19’s latest Global Expression Report, Montenegro has a solid ranking when it comes to freedom of expression, placing it 48th out of 161 countries.
According to Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index for 2024, Montenegro ranks 40th out of 180 countries, with a score of 73.21, indicating a relatively good level of media freedom. Analysing data from previous years, one can conclude that in recent years Montenegro has had a better media freedom rating compared to earlier periods, especially during the late years of DPS rule, when Montenegro was among the lowest-ranked countries in Europe. From 2017 to 2020, Montenegro fluctuated around the 105th place on the list of 180 countries. Thus, in recent years, the ranking has improved by around 60 places. This improvement is primarily due to the fact that in recent years, there have been almost no direct physical attacks on the media and journalists.
It is impossible not to connect this level of freedom with the end of the 30-year rule of the DPS, during which the average citizen feared to voice their opinions loudly even in a café with friends, with political opinions being whispered with cautious glances over the shoulder.
However, the situation, although significantly better, is not ideal. Despite Montenegrin laws guaranteeing freedom of speech and expression, media freedom continues to be threatened by political interference, economic pressures, and impunity for attacks on journalists, as highlighted in the Reporters Without Borders report.
Key attacks on journalists that occurred during the previous regime remain far from resolved. This fact does not inspire confidence. It suggests that individuals from the previous system still hold power in key processes or influence those currently in power. Thus, just as certain cases of organised crime from the past remain unsolved, so do the attacks on those who wrote about them, thereby endangering or costing them their lives.
The obstruction of investigations into attacks on journalists by key actors of the previous regime was revealed after the fall of DPS, with the discovery that former long-term president of the Supreme Court, and, before that, Chief State Prosecutor, Vesna Medenica, personally obstructed the investigation into the murder of Duško Jovanović while in her position as prosecutor.
Although she was aware of a crucial official note, namely the confession of Damir Mandić, the only person convicted for the murder of Duško Jovanović, Medenica did not react urgently. Investigative efforts by certain journalists indicate that this was one of the key factors that delayed the investigation and prevented the murder from being solved.
In 2022, Medenica was indicted for participating in a criminal group that included her son, for her involvement in organised crime and smuggling. Sky transcripts show that Medenica exerted pressure on and obstructed the judicial system through improper influence, interference and ruling on numerous court cases pertaining to her colleagues, which should have been independent, from her position as president of the Supreme Court.
Until the judiciary gains the courage to readily prosecute organised crime, it cannot be expected that attacks on journalists, who were the first to investigate and report to the public on crime within government structures, will be prosecuted.