Turmoil in Montenegrin TV Sparks 'Plot' Claims

The axed former director of Montenegro's public broadcaster, RTCG, Rade Vojvodic, on Thursday announced a lawsuit against the board that fired him amid claims in the pro-government media of an opposition plot to unseat him.

Vojvodic, who was sacked by the council that oversees broadcaster on Wednesday, said his removal was illegal and he did not break the law when he scrapped a competition for a new public TV chief.

Vojvodic was accused of rigging the competition by changing the rules to enable the candidate supported by the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists, DPS - who lacked appropriate qualifications for the job - to win.

 "It was suggested that I cancel the contest to avoid complaints and unnecessarily prolonging the process," he said, adding that everything was done in accordance with the law.

The council of the public broadcaster has meanwhile appointed an interim administration with Andrijana Kadija as interim director - the same team appointed to run the television station in the run-up to the general elections on October 16 under a pre-election deal reached between the opposition and former Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic.

After the DPS again won most seats in parliament and formed a new government, the interim administration was removed and a new one, considered close to the party, appointed.

However, the law on the public broadcaster says the state TV chief must be hired after a public competition.

One of the disappointed candidates for the job, journalist Marko Milacic, told BIRN that the competition rules had been changed because one of the candidates favoured by the DPS had no university diploma.

Milacic said the DPS was determined to regain its old influence over the TV station...