Montenegro Pays Milllions For Unlawful Detention

Montenegro's Minister of Justice Dusko Markovic said the ministry had paid out more than 430,000 euros since 2010 to settle compensation cases out of court for wrongful custody.

Ministry of Justice data also show that the state had to pay over 4.8 million euros in the last four years in court for unlawfully depriving people of their liberty.

Taken together, the two sums total around 5 million.

Montenegro paid a total of 370,000 euros compensation in 94 such cases in 2010, another 989,735 euros for 132 cases in 2011, 1.6 million euro for 222 cases in 2012 and 1.4 million euro for 118 cases in 2013, the minister said.

Montenegro's constitution says the state is obliged to compensate any person who is wrongfully detained or wrongfully convicted.

The European Convention on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Human Rights also oblige the country to compensate every case of unlawful deprivation of liberty.

The Center for Civic Education, a local watchdog, has called on the government  to determine who is responsible for paying the fees awarded for the illegal deprivation of liberty.

In January, the organization said the lack of mechanisms for establishing specific, direct and individual responsibility within the relevant authorities was worrying.