Human Rights Action (HRA) condemns the physical attack on lawyer Lazar Aković, which happened on Monday the 4th April 2016, in Podgorica. HRA joins the appeal of the Montenegro Bar Association to urgently identify and prosecute those who ordered the attack. We hope that the motive behind the attack will also be detected.
HRA advocates for stricter penalties in the Criminal Code for attacks on journalists, lawyers and health workers, like those that already exist for attacks on state officers, bearing in mind that persons who belong to those professions of particular public interest are exposed to increased safety risks in Montenegro. Such a solution exists, for example, in the Criminal Code of the Republic of Serbia.
HRA reminds that lawyer Vlado Bjeković was murdered in 2012, and that last year two lawyers suffered physical attacks.
