Montenegro has made progress in the application of standards of investigations effectiveness in torture cases, but it is necessary to improve the quality of explanation of court decisions, eradicate misconduct of police officers, and reduce abuse, was told at the conference "Standards of effectiveness of investigations for torture cases in Montenegro" organised by the European Union Delegation to Montenegro and the Council of Europe Programme Office in Podgorica.

The conference was organised within the action "Fighting ill-treatment and impunity and enhancing the application of the European Court of Human Rights case-law on national level in Montenegro", implemented by the Council of Europe within the Joint Programme of the European Union and the Council of Europe "Horizontal Facility for Western Balkans and Turkey".

The President of the Constitutional Court of Montenegro, Dragoljub Draskovic, said that the Constitutional Court with its decisions made a significant step forward in the implementation of the standards of effectiveness of investigations.

"We have undoubtedly accepted and proclaimed the values and principles on which the modern European order is based, and where the right to life, prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment is one of the most important rights of democratic societies," Draskovic said. He recalled that the Constitutional Court in its recent practice in three cases on the occasion of the events of October 24, 2015 in Podgorica, established violation of the right to dignity and inviolability of the person. "The Constitutional Court has indicated that an effective investigation must be conducted in a way that leads to the establishment of facts of a specific case, and that the responsible persons, if it is proved that the allegations of abuse are true, must be identified and punished," Draskovic concluded.

Prosecutor in the Supreme State Prosecution and President of the Association of Prosecutors of Montenegro Veselin Vuckovic said that he is especially encouraged by the fact that the state of Montenegro does not have systemic problems with respect to the highest standards of the Convention and that some unfortunate but often oversized cases receive their legal epilogue in front of the most relevant legal bodies. "The State Prosecution of Montenegro stands firmly in favor of the fact that an effective investigation, especially in relation to torture cases, does not have an alternative, and that the investigation must be thorough and independent, but also available to families of the victims of the criminal offense. Also, I want to point out another important segment of investigation, and that is the existence of public control over the course and the results of the investigation", Vuckovic said.

Head of Co-operation sector of the European Union Delegation to Montenegro, Hermann Spitz, said that the quality of judicial decisions in Montenegro has improved by increasing the reference to the court practice of the European Court of Human Rights, which is particularly evident in the decisions of the Constitutional Court and higher courts.

"However, there is still a need to improve the implementation of the European Court of Human Rights standards in everyday practice, as well as to improve the quality of explanation of decisions," says Spitz, who believes that through the joint programmes of the European Union and the Council of Europe, there would be better results in this area in the future.

The Head of the Council of Europe Programme Office in Podgorica, Angela Longo, agrees that after three years of the action it can be concluded that a lot has been done in the field of applying the standards of effectiveness of the investigation, but that there is still work to be done in this area.

"The Council of Europe throughout its project provided all its expertise to the state authorities in the judiciary and the police, as well as to lawyers, students, NGO activists", said Longo. She announced that a new action will be launched soon, focusing on articles 3, 5 and 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The action, which lasted for three years, was funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe, and project activities strengthened the capacities of judges, prosecutors and lawyers with a goal to better apply human rights standards in their day-to-day work.

 

About the Report of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT)

The Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Punishment in the new report, presented at the beginning of the year, recognised the significant progress Montenegro made in this area.

The Report also states that, despite certain improvement in the treatment of persons held by the police, abuse continues to be widespread.

Among other things, the Committee noted that further harmonised and co-ordinated actions are needed to resolve the constantly recurring matter of misconduct of police officers.