MANS Demands Urgent Action by Montenegro Authorities

In a reaction to the measures and activities adopted and implemented by the Municipality of Podgorica in the process of solving the problem of illegal construction in its territory, MANS sent an open letter to Zeljko Sturanovic, Minister of Justice, Boro Vucinic, Minister of Environmental Protection and Urban Planning, Dragan Djurovic, Minister of the Interior, Vesna Medenica, Chief Public Prosecutor, Sefko Crnovrsanin, Ombudsman for Human Rights. The open letter demands the suspension of all illegal action of the Public Construction and Building Inspectorate and abolishment of all decisions that conflict the positive legislation, in order to protect the rights and freedoms of the citizens, guaranteed by the Constitution, legislation and international treaties. Vanja Calovic, MANS Executive Director In the letter, MANS informs the said officials that Miomir Mugosa, Mayor of Podgorica, suspended the Law with his Conclusions, and prevented the application of the provisions of Article 17 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to all citizens to protect their rights and freedoms in a legally defined procedure. Article 269, paragraph 2 of the Law on Administrative Procedures, states that the implementation of decisions for demolition of real estate is conducted through the courts, in accordance with the Law. On the other hand, the Decisions on Demolition used by the Construction Inspectorate are based on the Conclusions adopted by the Mayor and have not been preceded by a court procedure, as required by the Law, which suspends the right to fair trial. Article 70 of the Law on Construction and Real Estate Development imposes an obligation on the units of local self-government to register, within two years period, all buildings build without construction permit. The same article also obliges the local self-government to take the appropriate measure, within one year after the registration is completed (end of 2003), to determine the criteria for permits, i.e. demolition, if permits can’t be issued. Ergo, this article provides that demolition of objects cannot commence even for the buildings without proper permits, unless the proper imperative procedure defined by this article was completed. Articles 109 and 110 of the Law on Local Self-Government to inform the citizens and organize public debates for all decisions that regulate the rights and obligations of the citizens. The Mayor regulated this problem in a manner that collides with the provisions of the Law on Administrative Procedures, Law on Construction and the Law on Local Self-Government, through adoption of Conclusions. Ever since 2000, when this practice of Conclusions started, the Mayor failed to provide public access to these conclusions, nor were they submitted to public debate. The actions of the Construction and Development Inspectorate already resulted in violations of citizens’ rights and caused significant material damages. In addition, the actions were illegal and unconstitutional, and were conducted with assistance from the Police. MANS expects that all the addressees of the letter will take the urgent measures to test the legality of the actions of Municipality of Podgorica and Mayor Mugosa, and to stop the continuing violations of the Constitutions and the Law.

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