Human Rights Action (HRA) has proposed today amendments to the Draft Act on Internal Affairs to the competent ministry of interior and members of Parliament.

In spite of the fact that the proposed Act is of great importance for the rights and interests of citizens, the proponent Minister of Internal Affairs failed to organise a public debate on the draft Act and include NGO representatives in drafting of the law, opposite to the Art. 81, para. 1 and 97 of the State Administration Act.

As the Draft Act on Internal Affairs mainly incorporated provisions of the Police Act of the Republic of Serbia, enough time should have remained for consulting the local public about the best solutions for Montenegro.

Following the media information on the Bill entering the Parliament for adoption, HRA proposed amendments in a short time, relying on the international standards, the 2011 Police Act of the Republic of Croatia, which was adopted in the final stage of negotiations with the EU, as well as the Montenegrin law with which the Act governing the conduct of the police had to be aligned.

The proposed Act could have been more clear, precise and comprehensive. We hope that proposed 15 amendments will still be able to contribute to better legislation and that the proponent will take them into consideration.

HRA team believes it would be necessary to:

• harmonise provisions on the application of means of coercion (use of force) against a group of persons (including breakup of the public gathering) with international standards and the Public Gatherings Act;
• extend the legal period for filing a complaint against police from one to six months;
• harmonise deletion of personal information from police records with the European Court of Human Rights case-law and Criminal Procedure Code;
• specify and delineate the authorities of the Minister and the Court in terms of  assessing the legality of application of means of coercion (use of force);
• clearly specify that against the excessive use of force criminal prosecution and disciplinary proceedings (i.e. proceedings for the breach of duty) may be lead in parallel, and that exemption from criminal responsibility does not necessarily imply exemption from responsibility for breach of duty;
• application of “undercover police actions” should be aligned with measures of secret surveillance as prescribed in the Criminal Procedure Code. These measures can not be instructed by the Minister, as proposed in the Draft, but only by the public prosecutor or investigative judge;
• establish a Commission for conduction of regular and special medical examinations and continuous control of psycho-physical condition of police officers and prescribe appropriate obligation for police officers to undergo such examinations;
• provide psychological support to police officers involved in traumatic events and any other highly stressful situations;
• direct the action of the police in relation to juveniles to the Act regulating the position of minors in criminal proceedings;
• provide free legal aid to police officers in criminal proceedings relating to the use of means of coercion only for those employees for whom it is estimated, within the police i.e. the Ministry, to had applied force within the limits of authority, having in mind that the Free Legal Aid Act also does not provide free assistance to all victims of abuse, but only to those parties who are extremely vulnerable;
• specify an immediate life-threatening situation of all persons in the same way as the immediate threat to life of police officer;
• specify conditions for the position of police director, in terms of special expertise and professional police experience, in accordance with the solutions offered in the region requiring candidates to have had previous experience of employment with the police or judiciary.

Amendments to the Draft Law on Internal Affairs in Montenegrin language are available here.