Tag: Montenegro

Dragana Obradovic, Director of BIRN Serbia and Hamdi Firat Buyuk, an editor with BIRN’s flagship publication in English, Balkan Insight, attended the Media Freedom Rapid Response, MFRR Summit 2025 in Brussels on October 13.

Obradovic told a panel entitled “Spoofing, Surveillance, Spyware. Journalists against Digital Threats” about BIRN’s own experience of digital threats. “We have seen it all. We have decided to fight back. We decided not to be victims,” Obradovic said.

She underlined that digital autocracy came to Serbia some 10 years ago. “Digital tech, including spyware, were misused in Serbia, including those that were bought by the government or bought by international donations,” Obradovic said.

She said the digital threats had escalated since 2023, “when Serbia entered a political crisis, and even more in the last year, when major public demonstrations started all over the country.

“Most of the targeted people are students, journalists and activists. Journalists are not the only target, but journalists are more resilient because they are more prepared, and citizens and activists are more prone to digital threats,” she added, recalling BIRN’s programme and projects on digital rights.

“[At BIRN], we followed digital rights violations very closely with monitoring tools, as well as public procurement monitoring,” she said.

Another speaker from BIRN, Buyuk, presented the grim media situation in Turkey.

“Attacks on journalists come with an advance tactic that includes multiple tools, including arrests, judicial harassment, access blocks and digital violence” Buyuk told a panel entitled “Unsafe to Report. Why Journalists Keep Looking Over Their Shoulders”.

Buyuk underlined that the online attacks in Turkey against journalists are unprecedented.

“More than a million online content items were blocked in Turkey in 2024. This includes 5,740 that were news content or media houses’ websites. Big tech companies increasingly yield to the demands of the Turkish government, eyeing profit rather than press freedom and freedom of speech,” Buyuk said.

The Media Freedom Rapid Response, MFRR, is a Europe-wide mechanism, which tracks, monitors and reacts to violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States and Candidate Countries.

The MFRR Summit 2025 brings together journalists, policymakers, and civil society to address the urgent challenges facing press freedom in Europe.

This year’s summit feeds into EU Democracy Shield policy discussions, and highlights journalism as vital democratic infrastructure.

Ivanovic received the award for his story ‘Big Brother: Montenegro’s Interior Ministry purchased Israeli facial recognition software’. BIRN’s investigation revealed that Montenegrin Interior Ministry bought a facial recognition software product called ‘Better Tomorrow’ and deployed it in public spaces in the capital Podgorica and the coastal towns of Bar and Budva.

Following the story’s publication, the Agency for Personal Data Protection banned the use of the software.

“This investigation was the result of several months of work involving the analysis and processing of documents obtained mainly through freedom of information requests, which once again proves how essential this tool is for investigative journalism,” Ivanovic said.

The second prize was shared by daily Pobjeda journalist Jovan Nikitovic for his investigation of abuses during the reconstruction of a museum in the town of Bijelo Polje.

The first prize was awarded to TV channel Vijesti for the documentary ‘Target: Montenegro – A State of Relatives’. The documentary investigates cases of relatives of state and local officials being employed within the public administration.

The third prize went to Podgorica-based anti-corruption NGO, ‘MANS’ for its investigation into the assets of former National Security Agency official Dusko Golubovic.

The competition recognised the best investigative stories published in Montenegro during 2024, with 34 entries submitted.

Parliament Speaker Andrija Mandic said the draft law needed to be better communicated to the public and to international partners.

On July 29, BIRN Montenegro’s Executive Director, Vuk Maras, urged the European Commission, NATO, and the Council of Europe to call on the Government of Montenegro to halt adoption of the draft Law on the ANB, warning that the proposal had been prepared without proper consultations, transparency, or legislative safeguards.

The same day, the European Commission Spokesperson for Enlargement, International Partnerships and the Mediterranean, Guillaume Mercier, told the daily Vijesti that the European Commission expected Montenegro to allow it to conduct a thorough analysis of the law before proceeding with the adoption process.

More than 20 leading non-government organisations in Montenegro have called on the Government to withdraw the draft law from procedure so it can be aligned with the Constitution and international standards.

Maras sent the letter to the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, European Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos, NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, Council of Europe Secretary General, Alain Berset, and Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O’Flaherty, warning that the law proposal was prepared without proper consultations, transparency, or legislative safeguards.

“Key concerns of the draft law include access to databases and information-communication systems without prior judicial approval, implementation of some secret surveillance measures without a court order and lack of any procedure for employment in the Agency. While we are aware that some democratic countries do have some of these solutions incorporated in their systems, the Montenegrin context makes such discretionary rights highly problematic,” Maras said.

He recalled that significant cases of misuse of surveillance of civil society, opposition, or media without proper judicial authorization are currently being adjudicated, including cases against a former Security Agency Director, Dejan Perunicic.

Maras stressed that Agency had never undergone systemic reform, or proper vetting of its current staff, and no accountability by its employees involved in illegal operations has ever been established.

“Considering these concerns, we respectfully request that NATO, the European Commission and the Council of Europe encourage suspension of any adoption of the draft law in its current form, facilitate or insist on a proper, participatory legislative process, and support introduction of proper judiciary oversight and scrutiny and independent review channels for alleged abuses,” Maras said.

 

The project, “Regulating the Regulators”, is part of a wider effort to make institutions more transparent, credible and accountable, as Montenegro prepares for accession to the EU.

The contract was signed by Austria’s Ambassador to Montenegro, Dr Christian Steiner, and the Executive Director of BIRN Montenegro, Vuk Maras.

Last July, BIRN Montenegro published a report on spending by state-owned electricity companies, which revealed an increase in the number of their employees, as well as abuses in the allocation of sponsorships and donations.

BIRN Montenegro is currently monitoring the spending of state-owned transport companies.

The BIRN report revealed, among other findings, a significant increase in the number of employees across several companies, as well as more than 6.5 million euros distributed in donations and sponsorships.

On completion of its monitoring, BIRN Montenegro addressed DRI with its findings, suggesting that EPCG-Solar Gradnja be included in the 2025 audit plan.

In its annual report, the DRI said the management of EPCG-Solar gradnja hired 357 employees in 2024 without issuing public calls and increased employee salaries without consulting the government and the Ministry of Energy, which is a legal obligation.

The report says the energy company failed to meet its legal obligation to reduce the total salary fund by 10 per cent after recording a 2.7-million-euro loss in 2023. The DRI submitted its report on irregularities in the company to the Supreme State Prosecutor’s Office, parliament and the Ministry of Finance.

Over the seven-month monitoring period, BIRN Montenegro tracked the spending of five state-owned energy companies: the Electric Power Company of Montenegro, EPCG, the Montenegrin Electric Distribution System, CEDIS, the Montenegrin Electric Transmission System, CGES, EPCG- Solar gradnja and EPCG-Zeljezara Niksic.

These companies were selected for monitoring due to widespread public speculation that those leading them were using their funds for political purposes.

During the two-day training for journalists, civic activists and IT experts, Israeli crypto expert Amit Levin presented models of how cryptocurrencies can be misused for money laundering and suspicious transactions.

Levin introduced participants to the fundamentals of blockchain technology and provided an overview of cryptocurrencies in the context of financial crime. He presented models explaining why virtual assets are appealing to illicit actors and demonstrated methods to trace basic transaction flows and identify linked addresses.

Levin is a former prosecutor in Israel’s State Attorney’s Office, where he led the Economics Department of the Cyber Unit. He prosecuted cases involving money laundering and terrorist financing using virtual currencies.

During the training, participants also shared ideas for investigative stories and a policy paper on threats posed by digital assets and malign foreign influences.

On June 14, BIRN Montenegro organised a follow-up training for representatives of the state prosecution and judiciary during which Levin presented models of financial investigations involving cryptocurrencies in Israel. This training was organised in cooperation with the Centre for Education in Judiciary and State Prosecution.

 

On April 28, BIRN Montenegro organised a panel discussion titled “Surveillance Measures and Censorship in the Digital Space,” which noted that no verdicts have been reached in cases concerning secret surveillance operations.

Former Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic recalled that court proceedings over unlawful surveillance conducted by the National Security Agency, ANB, in August 2020, have yet to conclude.

“To this day, we have no final court decisions regarding the wiretapping and surveillance activities carried out during the rule of the Democratic Party of Socialists … We exposed cases of unlawful monitoring by the ANB, and we [still] await the judiciary’s results,” Abazovic said.

Ahead of parliamentary elections, in August 2020, the portal Udar was launched, publishing articles aimed at discrediting opposition politicians, civic activists, clergy and journalists, calling them collaborators with foreign intelligence services, traitors and members of organised crime groups.

Authorities have never determined who was behind the portal, although some individuals targeted by Udar have been awarded compensation for violations of their reputation and dignity.

Journalist Petar Komnenic called the indicted former ANB director, Dejan Perunicic, “merely a pawn in the whole affair”. The indictment against Perunicic notes that ANB agents monitored Komnenic.

“These individuals certainly were not working for a private archive. It is essential to establish on whose orders they were operating,” Komnenic said.

Deputy Ombudsperson Mirjana Radovic emphasized that institutional reforms have not been swift enough – but noted that some individuals in the institutions are doing their jobs properly.

“We must find a way to overcome these challenges together, and we can only do so if institutions operate securely, efficiently and transparently,” Radovic said.

On December 18, BIRN Montenegro presented its monitoring report on the expenditure of funds in state-owned energy companies to parliament’s Anti-Corruption Committee.

Based on the report, the committee organised a hearing with the Minister of Energy, Sasa Mujovic, and with the heads of state-owned energy companies: Montenegrin Electric Power Company, EPCG, Montenegrin Electricity Distribution System, CEDIS, Montenegrin Electricity Transmission System, EPCG, the Coal Mine Pljevlja and EPCG – Steel Plant Niksic.

The committee adopted a conclusion urging all the energy companies to implement more reforms, invest in modernization and renewable energy and pursue innovative projects while emphasizing transparency, accountability and anti-corruption mechanisms.

BIRN Montenegro director Vuk Maras said that state-owned power companies have demonstrated a lack of transparency in their hiring practices and in the allocation of donations and sponsorships.

“In monitored state-owned companies, employment increased by 1,500 workers between 2021 and 2023, while annual salary expenses rose from €73 million to €115 million.

“Sponsorships and donations, which stood at €929,000 in 2019 and 2020, jumped to €1.4 million in 2021 and €1.9 million in 2022,” Maras said.

Minister of Energy Sasa Mujovic called the BIRN report a good basis for analyzing the operations of state-owned companies, urging managements to demonstrate greater transparency and control expenses related to donations and sponsorships.

The minister said he had forwarded some of BIRN’s recommendations to the managements of state-owned companies.