Montenegro Jails Opposition Leader for Refusing to Testify

Police arrested Nebojisa Medojevic, an MP from the opposition Democratic Front, and sent him to jail in the capital Podgorica on Friday to serve a two-month sentence.

He had been convicted of refusing to testify against the former long-term mayor of Podgorica, Miomir Mugosa, in a case involving corruption and misuse of office allegations.

Medojevic, known as one of the sharpest critics of the government and the ruling party run by veteran leader Milo Djukanovic, was arrested as he left the parliament building early on Friday.

Days before the arrest, Medojevic complained of "being followed" by police officers and intelligence agents, and on Thursday he filed an official complaint to the Interior Ministry.

"This is a first-rate scandal, to arrest a lawmaker for the words he has said… this is a continuation of the repression against the Democratic Front," said the Front's leader Andrija Mandic.

The Front also claimed that Medijevic could not be arrested without his immunity being lifted by parliament.

In March, Medojevic was fined 1,000 euros for refusing to testify in a preliminary investigation into his allegations that former Podgorica mayor Miomir Mugosa paid Special Public Prosecutor Milivoje Katnic 100,000 euros not to be kept in pre-trial custody.

Both Katnic and Mugosa denied the allegations.

Medojevic refused to pay the fine and the court imposed the two-month jail sentence, but Medojevic appealed. Montenegrin media reported on November 21 that the appeal court had yet to decide on his case. 

The Democratic Front also fears that another MP from its ranks, Milan Knezevic, will be jailed on Friday, so he stayed in the party's premises in the parliament building to avoid arrest.

Knezevic was also fined...