Samir KajosevicPodgoricaBIRNMarch 24, 202315:53Human Rights Action, an NGO, on Friday called on the Special State Prosecution to investigate cases of police brutality, after photos of police torturing suspects, apparently sent to gang leaders, were published.

Montenegro Urged to Probe Photos of Police Brutality, Gang Links

Montenegrin Interior Minister Filip Adzic (L) and Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic (R) inspecting special police units. Photo: Government of Montenegro

Montenegrin NGO Human Rights Action, HRA, on Friday called on the Special State Prosecution to investigate cases of systematic police torture, after photos of police brutality were published in the media.

Citing a European police agency EUROPOL report to the Montenegrin government from last May, news portal Libertas Press on March 23 published photos and SKY app transcripts of police special unit officers and members of the notorious Kavac drug gangs.

In the published photos, special unit police officers are seen beating prisoners, putting guns in their mouths, suffocating them and torturing them with electricity.

Human Rights Action said they had reported 20 cases of police brutality to prosecution since last 2019, but there was no investigation.

“The Special State Prosecution must consider these cases of systematic police torture as criminal acts committed by an organized criminal group. Some of the police brutality cases from the published photos have long been reported to the State Prosecutor’s office, but weren’t yet prosecuted for unknown reasons,” HRA said in a press release.

“Any state prosecutor who has been compromised by the ineffective handling of the cases reported so far must be excluded from the proceedings of the prosecution,” they added.

The Interior Ministry and Police Directorate have yet to comment on the reports, but a Podgorica-based lawyer, Damir Lekic, said one of the victims was his client, Stefan Kovac, who reported police brutality last October.

According to the published SKY app transcripts, senior special police unit officers Petar Lazovic and Jugoslav Jugo Raicevic were communicating with one of Kotor-based Kavac gang leaders, Radoje Zvicer, sending him photos of police torturing a member of a rival Skaljari drug gang.

The gangs have been involved for years in a war, and at least 50 people have been killed in Montenegro, Serbia, Austria and Greece in the feud.

On August 11, the Special State Prosecution filed an indictment against Lazovic for ties to the Kavac gang, alleging he provided them official protection.

Last July, Montenegro issued an international warrant for senior police officers Ljubo Milovic and Radoje Zvicer, for creating criminal organizations and drug trafficking. Milovic and Zvicer fled the country after the media last May published a EUROPOL report sent to the Montenegrin government.

In December 2022, the Special State Prosecution Office charged Special State Prosecutor Sasa Cadjenovic with protecting gang members, adding that the investigation could be expanded to include other prosecution and police officials. The Special State Prosecution said Cadjenovic covered up evidence and stopped investigations into members of the gang.

A March 20 report by the US State Department noted reports of police torture of suspects and of beatings that occurred in prisons and detention centres across the country. It added that most complaints involving criminal proceedings did not result in heavy penalties.

Last October’s evaluation report by the Group of States Against Corruption, GRECO, the Council of Europe’s anti-corruption monitoring body, urged Montenegro to step up efforts to reduce political influence and criminal groups’ leverage over the police in the country.

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