Montenegro to Name Special Organized Crime Prosecutor

By the end of month, Montenegro will appoint a chief special prosecutor for organized crime and corruption, war crimes and human trafficking - as part of a drive to prove that it is worthy of membership of the European Union.

The government has admitted that the ex-Yugoslav republic has a problem with organized crime and corruption and has announced the establishment of a special prosecutor's organization based on the model of Croatia's widely praised USKOK department.

The special unit will be established within the police whose officers will act only on the orders of the new special prosecutor.

The aim of the new organization, the government says, is to consolidate all criminal processes for the most serious crimes, with a special emphasis  "on corruption at high political level".

According to announcements, no later than this Friday, the Supreme State Prosecutor, Ivica Stankovic, will reveal his choice for the post of the chief prosecutor for organized crime.

Three candidates have applied to the announcement and the process of selection concluded last week.

Under the Law on the Special Prosecutor's Office, adopted in February, the Prosecutors Council must confirm Stankovic's choice, which is between lawyer Mitar Mugosa, prosecutor Djurdjina Ivanovic and the Court of Appeal judge Milivoje Katnic.

"All the candidates are high-quality professionals with references for such a post," State Prosecutor Stankovic said.

Media reports in the capital Podgorica indicate that his first choice would be Katnic, an experienced jurist who was also a judge of the military court in Podgorica in the Nineties.

Montenegro already has a special unit for organized crime and corruption as part of the Supreme...