The Human Rights Action (HRA) welcomes the decision of the Prosecutorial Council to verify whether, in the investigation of the murder of Duško Jovanović, the state prosecutors had acted in line with the recommendations the HRA provided in its report entitled “The Unexplained Murder of Duško Jovanović, Director and Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Newspaper Dan – Unanswered Questions”. We remind that, in 2016, we used valid arguments, based on information that was available from the High State Prosecutor’s Office and the judgment of the High Court at the time, to criticise this investigation as insufficiently thorough. We have reminded of those findings every single year since then, appealing for the engagement of a foreign expert who would review the investigation.

It is worrying that after two communications with the competent High State Prosecutor’s Office in Podgorica, the Prosecutorial Council is still not convinced that everything the HRA had pointed out 7 years ago, and the Commission for Monitoring Investigations of Attacks on Journalists pointed a year ago, has been investigated. According to the information of the representative of the NGO in that Commission, attorney Dalibor Tomović, the State Prosecutor’s Office has not yet provided the Commission with any information on actions taken based on the recommendations.

Also worrying is the statement that, despite the announcements of the previous Prime Minister Dritan Abazović, a foreign expert has not yet been engaged to review the investigation into the murder of Duško Jovanović, although the Commission for Monitoring Investigations of Attacks on Journalists first requested this from the government of Duško Marković back in 2018. We expect Prime Minister Spajić to urgently provide a suitable expert.

We expect the Prosecutorial Council to continue to insist on more complete information and, accordingly, examine the legality of the actions of the state prosecutors who were obliged to conduct an effective investigation into the murder of Duško Jovanović.