The Executive Committee of Liberal International, meeting on 26 april 1997 in Sitges, Catalunya, Spain:
- is concerned about information from Montenegro which indicates that the judicial system is more and more entwined with the leadership of the ruling party, and that there is no independent and objective judicial power in Montenegro and that the basic human right to fair trial is violated;
- is unpleasantly surprised by information received from a number of independent sources, which indicate that the authorities in Montenegro have organised a number of political trials i.e. that the judicial system is used for illegal political oppression of opponents to the government;
- is especially concerned about political trials against some leaders of opposition parties, and in particular against the president of the Liberal Alliance of Montenegro and vice-president of Liberal International, Mr. Slavko Perovic.
The received information indicates that in the trial organised against Mr. Perovic, human rights, both those guaranteed by Montenegro’s constitution and by international agreements, have been flagrantly violated on a number of occasions (e. g. the court did not follow the procedure defined by law, did not examine the evidence, was not even-handed to both sides, it openly discriminated against the defendant Mr. Perovic, Mr. Perovic had no opportunity to take part in the legal argument, etc.). Not even minimal guarantees of human rights were observed in the case brought against Mr. Perovic; the conduct of the Court in Cetinje exhibited such a disregard of justice and the basic principles of law, that it should be asked if the Court in Cetinje can be regarded as an instrument of justice in the civilised world.
The Executive Committee of Liberal International:
- vigorously protests against the conduct of the judicial system in the case against Mr. Perovic and requests an immediate end to unlawful trials and the similar misuse of the judicial system;
- stresses the need for the Montenegrin judicial system to begin a process of transition, from serving one party to being independent and objective in accordance with international standards.
