Human Rights Action (HRA) is pleased with the judgement of the Basic Court in Podgorica that ordered Montenegro, as the founder of daily Pobjeda, to publish reaction of HRA to the article published in this newspaper on 10 September 2013.

HRA initiated the lawsuit with public interest in mind and with the aim to fight for the right to objective information, which includes the obligation of the media to respect the right to a response, in accordance with the Media Law and the Code of Ethics of Montenegrin Journalists. This obligation especially binds Pobjeda, a media outlet in which the State still holds a majority stake.

HRA attempted to exercise the right to a response by directly addressing the editorial board of Pobjeda and the former Editor-in-chief, Srđan Kusovac on several occasions, but to no avail. We also submitted complaint to the Media Council for Self-Regulation (MSS), since Pobjeda is its member. MSS ruled that the editorial board of Pobjeda violated the Code by refusing to publish HRA’s reaction, while publishing the response to our unpublished reaction.

The question is why Pobjeda favoured one NGO over another in such an obvious manner and demonstrated extreme bias. By publishing the attack on HRA by Professor Stevan Lilić, President of the Managing Board of NGO Public Policy Institute, and denying HRA the right to a response, Pobjeda brought into question not only its own reputation, but also the reputation of its founder, the State of Montenegro.

Judgement of the Basic Court in Podgorica (in Montenegrin)