Observations on Montenegro
I'm sitting in one of the more upmarket cafes in Montenegro's capital, Podgorica, in the late-afternoon sun. Across the table sits Slavica Jovanovic, a widow in her mid-thirties, and next to her Vladimir, who listens before rattling out a translation. It's like watching a play in which the curtain drops every 30 seconds, but her story is fascinating.
Slavica accuses government forces connected to Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic of playing a role in the assassination of her husband, Dusko Jovanovic, editor of the tabloid daily newspaper Dan. She says that he "continuously received" threats from the secret service chief, Dusko Markovic, and Aleksandar, the prime minister's brother, before his death four years ago.
Jovanovic was 40 years old when he was shot on his nightly walk from the newspaper's headquarters to his Peugeot saloon. Since becoming editor in 2001, he had won both readers and enemies with his gonzo editorial style: Dan was the first Montenegrin paper to report the prime minister's role in international tobacco smuggling.
Fingered by Naples prosecutors in 2002, Djukanovic was again identified by prosecutors in Bari last year as the boss of a smuggling enterprise that used speedboats to transport cigarettes across the Adriatic - making some E500m. The PM appeared before them in March to deny the charges, but the case is ongoing.
Jovanovic was identified so strongly with opposition to Djukanovic that when a rally was held after his death in 2004 protesters shouted "Milo - murderer" as they passed government buildings. So far no one, least of all the man at the centre of Montengrin government for the past 17 years, has been held to account for the killing.
The prime suspect is Damic Mandic, a petty gangster who was arrested in June 2004. His first prosecution was botched, so this year he will be tried again. It is unclear if he worked alone. Slavica says that Mandic's phone records shows that he made calls to the security services 40 minutes before and after the killing. She notes that the PM pardoned Mandic in 2001 for an unrelated conviction two years previously. And the Montenegrin investigation was hampered when Slavoljub Scekic, head of the investigating team, was himself gunned down in 2005.
Slavica also claims that attempts to posthumously annul her marriage and take her home have been supported by Djukanovic's allies: "The attempts to murder Dusko's reputation have been even worse for me than his murder.
"I do not know how, but Dusko's brother became convinced that Dusko had hidden E5m in a bank account and that the money was his by rights. Of course it does not exist, but that has not stopped Dusko's enemies from humiliating me through the law.
"Most of the cases have been thrown out of court, but it has been incredibly hard. At one stage I was accused of being a Russian spy sent to corrupt him, at another point I was told by Dusko's brother that I had killed him. They can't take our son, though."
Slavica, who was pregnant with Vojin when his father was killed, is unbowed by her trials. Last year she founded Fondacija Dusko Jovanovic, an NGO devoted to promoting free and effective journalism in Montenegro.
"I want to show our son I am up to Dusko's name," Slavica says. Then she leaves to collect him from school.
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