By persecuting prosecutor Lidija Mitrović, Chief Special Prosecutor Vladimir Novović was saving his own position
Siniša Adamović Draško Đuranović
From absolute protection to absolute persecution. That is how the relationship of Chief Special Prosecutor Vladimir Novović toward former Special Prosecutor Lidija Mitrović appears. She was sentenced to seven months in prison and is currently on the run.
Less than four years ago, Novović flatly rejected a request from then-Minister of Defense Olivera Injac, who claimed that Special Prosecutor Mitrović was persecuting her out of revenge because the Ministry of Defense had not sent Mitrović’s son to study at the „Ikaron“ military academy in Greece.
PROSECUTORIAL PROTECTION OF PROSECUTOR MITROVIĆ
On May 27, 2022, Vladimir Novović firmly rejected Olivera Injac’s request.
- After reviewing the case files and obtaining a statement from Special Prosecutor Lidija Mitrović, I determined that Special Prosecutor Lidija Mitrović undertook official actions in the case in a timely and lawful manner - states, among other things, the decision of the Chief Special Prosecutor, noting that „none of the grounds for the recusal of the Special Prosecutor exist“.
In addition to the Chief Special Prosecutor, his loyal deputy, Special Prosecutor Miloš Šoškić, directly sent positive evaluations of Lidija Mitrović’s work to the Prosecutorial Council.
- I find that the allegations in the complaint of Minister of Defense Olivera Injac are unfounded, and that Special Prosecutor Lidija Mitrović undertook all actions in case Kt-S.br.63/21 in full compliance with the Criminal Procedure Code - Šoškić concluded.
NOVOVIĆ’S TURNAROUND
And then - completely - all actions of the Chief Special Prosecutor and his team at the Special State Prosecutor’s Office changed entirely. The previously protected Special Prosecutor Lidija Mitrović suddenly became the target of persecution by her colleagues.
Meanwhile, Olivera Injac, who had been subject to prosecutorial proceedings until then, overnight became a specially protected figure, whose integrity was now guaranteed by Chief Special Prosecutor Vladimir Novović and his special team of prosecutors.
During thirteen months at the head of the Ministry of Defense, former Minister Olivera Injac managed to accumulate four criminal complaints.
FOUR COMPLAINTS AGAINST THE MINISTER OF DEFENSE
The first criminal complaint, filed on March 23, 2021, charged Olivera Injac with abuse of office after she hired retired warrant officer of the Army of Montenegro, Miodrag Jokanović, into the Intelligence and Security Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Montenegro.
The second complaint, filed on April 13, 2021, was also for abuse of office. Minister Injac allegedly hired active-duty military officer Lieutenant Colonel Veljko Mališić without a decision of the Defense Council and in violation of the Law on the Army of Montenegro.
The third criminal complaint against Minister Injac concerned the „cadets“ affair and the unlawful elimination of Marko Mitrović, the son of Prosecutor Mitrović, from studying at a military academy in Greece.
The fourth criminal complaint was filed by officer Igor Knežević for „abuse of office and constitutional discrimination carried out against him by Minister of Defense Olivera Injac“.
POLITICAL ULTIMATUMS
By issuing two binding instructions not to prosecute Olivera Injac, the Chief Special Prosecutor completely halted the processing of all other criminal complaints.
In doing so, Novović ventured into explaining the inexplicable. In a binding instruction, he argued that hiring pensioner Jokanović into permanent employment, without professional qualifications, in the Intelligence and Security Directorate was not a serious violation of the law.
Instead of legal reasoning, Novović used what could be described as a „flight through time“, concluding in a caricatured manner that Injac, who hired Jokanović on February 1, 2021, did not break the law even though Jokanović’s pension payments were suspended a month later, meaning he was simultaneously receiving both a salary and a pension.
The Special State Prosecutor’s Office also did not consider violations of the Law on the Army or the Constitution in the hiring of Colonel Veljko Mališić, who at the time was an active-duty military officer.
„PLAYING IT SAFE“
It is clear that legal reasons were not the key factor behind Vladimir Novović’s complete shift in conduct. The Chief Special Prosecutor faced an ultimatum from the top of the post-August government, primarily from Spajić’s Europe Now Movement: if he continued prosecuting officials from that party, he risked being removed from his position as head of the Special State Prosecutor’s Office.
According to information obtained by Television E, some „friends from the West“ also warned Novović that it would be wise to wait before prosecuting officials of the new government and that the focus of the Special State Prosecutor’s Office should instead be on individuals from the former government led by the Democratic Party of Socialists.
At the same time, he was allegedly threatened that irregularities from his time as a member of the Judicial Council’s Commission for the Evaluation of Judges would be pulled from the archives, specifically allegations that, by manipulating evaluation scores, together with Judge Vesna Vučković, he helped advance Judge Seka Piletić to the Supreme Court.
Today it is quite clear that Vladimir Novović chose to remain at the head of the Special State Prosecutor’s Office, ready to do whatever is asked of him. And perhaps that is why he does not respond to numerous questions, including those concerning allegations that the Special Prosecutor’s Office is targeting all critically oriented media outlets.