HRA NEWSLETTER 13 – TOPIC 3

Former President of the Supreme Court Vesna Medenica has been found guilty of abuse of office in a retrial and sentenced to six months in prison. According to the indictment, she unlawfully allowed Judge Milosav Zekić to remain in judicial office even though criminal proceedings were pending against him. The verdict was delivered by Judge Sonja Keković of the High Court in Podgorica.

This judgment confirms the first-instance verdict delivered by Judge Keković in November 2024. Medenica’s defense counsel, Zdravko Begović, announced that he will appeal to the Appellate Court, which had previously, in July, determined that last year’s judgment was unclear and contradictory.

According to the Special State Prosecutor’s Office, Medenica was charged with abuse of office in February 2019, while serving as President of the Supreme Court, by allowing Judge Milosav Zekić of the Basic Court in Rožaje to continue performing his judicial duties and avoid temporary suspension, although criminal proceedings were pending against him before the Basic Court in Kotor. In doing so, she allegedly enabled him to unlawfully obtain material benefit.

It should be recalled that Human Rights Action (HRA), acting on an anonymous report, informed the Judicial Councilon 7 July 2020 that a final judgment had been issued against Judge Zekić on 11 September 2019, sentencing him to a five-month suspended prison term for endangering safety and causing minor bodily harm.

Once the judgment became final, Judge Zekić should have been dismissed immediately, as he had been convicted of an offence that made him unfit to perform judicial duties. However, he avoided dismissal by resigning ten days after the Judicial Council was informed of the judgment. Despite the final conviction, the Judicial Council granted him a one-year official allowance totaling €14,400 (€1,200 per month) and a severance payment of €1,260, solely because he submitted his resignation before the dismissal proceedings could take place.

HRA NEWSLETTER 13

• N13.T1 – The Constitutional Court Still Waiting for Judges – Parliament Fails to Elect Any of the Proposed Candidates
• N13.T2 – Draft Amendments to the Law on the Constitutional Court of Montenegro Prepared – New Retirement Conditions for Judges
• N13.T3 – Vesna Medenica Convicted Again – Sentenced to Prison
• N13.T4 – Miloš Medenica Released from Spuž Detention, Vesna Medenica from House Arrest
• N13.T5 – State Prosecutor Srđa Jovanović Sentenced to Prison for Abuse of Office
• N13.T6 – Defendants Acquitted in the “Tunnel” Case, Widespread Criticism of the Verdict
• N13.T7 – The Prosecutor’s Office Report under the Shadow of Political Pressure
• N13.T8 – What Is the Role of the Supreme State Prosecutor?
• N13.T9 – Proposed Candidates for the Prosecutorial Council: One Studied for 16 Years
• N13.T10 – Statute of Limitations and Dismissal of Criminal Complaints in Prosecution Offices and Courts – Inefficiency or Something More Serious?
• N13.T11 – Supreme Court Identified a Procedural Error by the Administrative Court – Case on the Prosecutorial Council’s Decision to Be Reconsidered
• N13.T12 – New Judicial Code of Ethics Adopted – Ilićković to Lead Oversight Commission
• N13.T13 – Process of Establishing the Special Court Begins
• N13.T14 – Basic Court in Rožaje Hosts Open Day: Addressing Peer Violence and Court Challenges
• N13.T15 – Two Unions, Two Approaches to Strikes in the Judiciary