On the occasion of the Constitutional Court of Montenegro passing decision to adopt the constitutional appeal of Miodrag Martinovic and establish that in this case of police torture the State Prosecutor’s Office failed to conduct an effective investigation in line with the international standard of the prohibition of torture, the Executive Director of Human Rights Action, Ms. Tea Gorjanc Prelevic, who submitted constitutional appeal on behalf of Mr. Martinovic, said:

”The Constitutional Court again confirmed that the state should not support police torture by frivolous investigations. The Constitutional Court found that the State prosecution failed to oblige domestic and international legal standards of effective investigation of police torture against Milorad Martinovic and obliged the State prosecution to fulfill that duty.

Following this second decision by which the Constitutional Court established that the State Prosecutor’s Office failed to conduct a proper investigation against police officers in relation to police torture on Podgorica streets after political protest in October 2015, HRA expects the Supreme State Prosecutor to announce how he intends to provide for the implementation of the Constitutional Court’s decisions and whether he intends to reform the approach of state prosecutors towards investigations of abuse of police authority.

The Constitutional Court of Montenegro in this way creates a positive domestic practice of protection against torture that the citizens would otherwise have to seek before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg or the UN Committee Against Torture.”

HRA will comment on the decision of the Constitutional Court in more detail following its publication in the Official Gazette of Montenegro.

2/5/2017 CONSTITUTIONAL APPEAL DUE TO INEFFECTIVE INVESTIGATION OF TORTURE AGAINST MARTINOVIĆ

30/3/2016 PROCESSING ONLY TWO POLICE OFFICERS FOR THE BEATING OF MILORAD MARTINOVIC DEFEATS THE RULE OF LAW