Police Directorate: No evidence that a group of 15 people harassed Israeli minors in Budva

Claims that a group of around 15 people harassed two underage Israeli tourists in Budva are untrue and do not correspond to the statements they gave to police, nor to the facts established during checks and through the review of video surveillance footage, the Police Directorate said. The prosecutor determined that the incident did not contain elements of a criminal offence falling under the jurisdiction of the state prosecution service.

The Police Directorate responded to reports published by some local and foreign media outlets claiming that a group of around 15 people had harassed two Israeli tourists through the streets of Budva.

According to the Police Directorate, such claims „are not true and do not correspond to the statements given by the Israeli minors to officers of the Budva Security Department, nor to the established facts“.

On August 5, at around 6 a.m., the two Israeli minors, in the presence of a social worker from the Budva Centre for Social Work, filed written reports with the police and gave statements concerning the circumstances of the incident.

According to their statements, they had previously been at a casino in Budva, where they allegedly spoke with a person unknown to them. They said they felt uncomfortable and frightened and decided to leave the premises.

- At the same time, in their statements they said that the person they had previously spoken to did not follow them, threaten them, or physically assault them - the police said.

As for what happened after they left the casino, one of the minors said that, while they were walking away through the streets, there had been physical contact with an unknown person, but he was unable to specify exactly how it had occurred.

The other minor told police that he allegedly heard an employee at the casino calling out to him, saying, „Jew, Jew“.

The Police Directorate, however, said that these claims had not been confirmed by the checks carried out.

- Neither of the minors, in their statements to police, said that a group of around 15 people had chased them through the streets of Budva, nor did they describe the incident in the manner in which it was presented in certain media reports in Montenegro and abroad - the police said.

In order to verify all the claims and establish the circumstances of the incident, police officers reviewed available video-surveillance footage from the casino and its immediate surroundings.

According to the Police Directorate, the footage shows that the minors left the casino on their own, without being accompanied or coming into contact with an individual or group of people, after which they walked away.

- The video surveillance did not establish that any individual or group of individuals followed or chased the two minors in question - the police emphasized.

The police also stated that the minors were not displaying any characteristics that would indicate that they were Israeli citizens, nor had the checks conducted so far established that they had told the people with whom they allegedly came into contact about their citizenship or origin.

Therefore, they added, the checks carried out so far did not indicate that any contact with other individuals had been motivated by the minors’ citizenship or origin.

The state prosecutor at the Basic State Prosecutor’s Office in Kotor was informed of all stages of the police procedure.

- The prosecutor determined that this incident did not contain elements of a criminal offence falling under the jurisdiction of the state prosecution service - the statement said.

The police will, however, inform the competent inspectorate about the facts and circumstances surrounding how the minors were allowed to stay in the casino, as well as their possible participation in gambling activities, so that the inspectorate can take measures within its jurisdiction.

At the end of its statement, the Police Directorate appealed for responsible and accurate reporting on incidents involving minors and foreign nationals, with a clear distinction between confirmed facts and claims that have not been substantiated by police checks.