Montenegro PM Urged to Dismiss Police Director

Opposition parties and some prominent NGOs have called on Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic to dismiss the director of police, Slavko Stojanovic, after the police accused the Special Prosecutor's Office of illegally ordering the arrest of senior police officers.

The deputy chair of parliament's Security Council, Snezana Jonica, on Monday said that if Djukanovic leaves the police chief in office it will show that Stojanovic's demand for the government to protect him from prosecution "is not just ignorance but his way of doing things".

Another opposition official, Sergej Sekulovic from the Civic Movement URA, claimed that prosecutors, police and judges linked to the ruling coalition had used cover-ups for years to obstruct corruption investigations.

"Obviously, the prosecution is finally having some measurable results, which seems to bother someone," Sekulovic told the media.

The opposition demand came after the conflict between the police and the Special Prosecution escalated on Sunday, when the head of the police department for the prevention of organized crime and corruption, Dalibor Medojevic, and one of its inspectors, Nikola Terzic, were both arrested.

They were held on suspicion of having been part of what the prosecution called an "organized criminal group", responsible for the disappearance of crucial evidence in a case against businessman Veselin Mujovic.

Mujovic is accused of having taken a 800,000 euro bribe from the former president of the former state of Serbia and Montenegro, Svetozar Marovic, to ensure the latter had favourable treatment in several corruption cases in which he is the prime suspect.

Marovic was arrested in December in connection to a long-running corruption case centring on his...