Spuz Detainee Families Protest at Podgorica Court

Families of detainees held at the Spuz Investigative Prison gathered outside the Higher Court building in Podgorica this morning at 10 a.m., in support of the hunger strike their relatives have been carrying out since September 1. Montenegro is currently the only country in the region negotiating Chapter 23, the judiciary reform chapter, so any dispute over the treatment of detainees in Podgorica falls under Brussels’ direct oversight, and by extension draws the attention of neighboring countries only now starting down the same path.

Sources disagree on the number of people taking part in the strike. The Administration for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions (UIKS) said 155 detainees are on strike and that their health condition is, for now, stable, with vital signs under continuous monitoring. The detainees themselves, in a letter addressed to the public, claim there are 190 of them and that the number will soon pass “two hundred.” The Standard portal, citing UIKS data from earlier in the day, put the figure at 162. Neither side has explained the gap between the official count and the self reported one.

Banners at the gathering read “Support for the strike,” “A fair and just trial” and “They are keeping us in detention so the truth won’t come out.” Sladjana Dragojevic addressed the crowd on behalf of the families, demanding equal treatment before the law regardless of the type of charge.

“If people are to be tried, let everyone be tried fairly, instead of giving only initials for rapists. On the other hand, those who committed minor criminal offenses have their full names and surnames given out,” Dragojevic said, adding that the state should stand by the detainees and respect their rights.

Attorney Zdravko Begovic was also present, and said the gathering was not meant to pressure the court.

“They came to show the Montenegrin public that the law, the Constitution and the European conventions must be respected. They came to show that all those rulings ordering and extending detention, all those rulings rejecting our proposals for bail and alternative measures, are not in line with the Constitution, the law and the conventions,” Begovic said.

He added that behind every man at the Investigative Prison stands a family, children waiting for their fathers and wives waiting for their husbands, and that the presumption of innocence is a right that, in his words, must not be set aside while proceedings drag on.

Attorney Marko Radovic recalled that families and defense lawyers had expected progress after the first two rounds of the strike, but that the situation has since worsened.

“Unfortunately, since then we have seen a higher number of detainees,” Radovic said.

What Are the Detainees Demanding?

A group of detainees, through their lawyer Nikola Tomkovic, sent the public a letter claiming that no one from the institutions has visited them so far.

“The condition we are in is worsening by the day, and the number of detainees keeps growing. There will be more than 200 of us. Montenegrin institutions and NGOs are staying silent about all of this. We are determined and we will not give up, because this is the only lawful option we have left,” the letter reads.

In the same letter, the detainees said their strike is not an attempt to pressure the institutions but, as they put it, “a cry for us to be tried under the law and the Constitution, not according to the wishes of individuals,” and announced they would continue withdrawing power of attorney from their lawyers.

Their specific demands center primarily on the so called “Sky” and “Anom” cases, the evidence gathered by intercepting encrypted communications that underpins most organized crime proceedings before the Higher Court’s Special Department. The detainees are asking for an independent court expert in digital telecommunications to be engaged, and for the full source material, along with all accompanying court documents from France, the Netherlands and the United States, to be handed over, instead of the excerpts they have received so far. They are also demanding that alternative measures be applied instead of extended detention. According to their account, rooms of around 25 square meters hold between eight and 13 people.

Supreme Court President Valentina Pavlicic has previously reiterated the position that detention must not become a substitute for punishment.

“In the previous period, concrete measures were taken to increase the efficiency of the courts. Organized crime and corruption cases were placed under Supreme Court monitoring, measures were taken to make the Higher Court in Podgorica and its Special Department work more efficiently, and a Uniform Program for Resolving Old Cases was adopted at the level of the judicial system. The results show progress, but it would be irresponsible to claim the problem has been solved as long as there are proceedings that drag on for years, particularly when the accused are held in detention,” Pavlicic told Euronews Montenegro regarding the ongoing strike.

Spuz has repeatedly been in the public spotlight in recent months, even outside the context of the strike. Srpske Novine previously reported that Andrija Bozovic was arrested at the prison gate the moment his detention in one case expired, which shows how closely entering and leaving the Spuz complex is tied, in practice, to new proceedings. No timeline has been announced for UIKS and detainee representatives to reconcile the strike’s headcount, and the Higher Court has not officially commented on the protests held outside its own building.