Pavličić on the escape of Miloš Medenica: The entire system should have acted as one

President of the Supreme Court of Montenegro Valentina Pavličić said that „the escape of Miloš Medenica does not reflect positively on the judicial system, particularly given that the High Court completed the case within three years, which had been a source of pride“.

- The entire system should have acted in a coordinated and unified manner to prevent a situation like this. Whether he will be made available to the judicial authorities is now something we must resolve - Pavličić told reporters at Villa Gorica.

She stressed that courts have a duty to resolve cases, especially where an individual's liberty has been restricted, but noted that not all available administrative mechanisms had been used, according to Antena M.

- It is our responsibility to resolve cases because we have restricted someone's liberty, but we did not make full use of all the administrative capacities available to us - Pavličić said.

The President of the Supreme Court added that the competent authorities would continue their efforts to ensure that Medenica is brought before the judicial authorities and to prevent similar situations from occurring in the future.

The President of the High Court, Zoran Radović, also addressed the case of Lidija Mitrović, who likewise remains unavailable to the authorities after being convicted.

Radović said that Mitrović cannot simply be retried.

- No decision has yet been made on her request for a retrial. This is not a usual situation, because she has already been convicted and an arrest warrant has been issued for her. The court will issue a decision on that request shortly - Radović said, adding that the court registry had received letters from her.

Commenting on the case of Miloš Medenica, Radović also said there were no grounds to examine the responsibility of Judge Rabrenović, and that, in his opinion, it could not be concluded that she had acted negligently or unprofessionally.

Pavličić was also asked about the case of I. M. (45) from Podgorica, who was sentenced to five years' imprisonment for breaking into snack vending machines at the Institute for Children's Diseases.

- The way sentences are determined in our system is outdated, and we need to address this issue without waiting for legislative amendments, particularly with regard to aggravating and mitigating circumstances. In this case, we are dealing with a serious repeat offender. This is a property crime, whereas corruption is something entirely different. I believe the court concluded that shorter prison sentences had not produced results and therefore imposed a five-year sentence - Pavličić said.