Based on a reasoned initiative submitted by the Special State Prosecutor’s Office, the Supreme State Prosecutor’s Office has filed a Request for Protection of Legality against a decision of the High Court in Podgorica in the case publicly known as “Telekom.”

 The decision of the High Court in Podgorica, in which the Criminal Extra-Judicial Panel determined that the so-called relative statute of limitations for criminal prosecution had not expired for the criminal offences that are the subject of the criminal complaint filed by the non-governmental organization MANS, was based on the finding that procedural actions had meanwhile been undertaken to identify the perpetrators and the criminal offences, thereby interrupting the limitation period.

 The Supreme Court of Montenegro has previously taken the position that a procedural action may interrupt the statute of limitations only if it is undertaken against a specific person, by a competent authority or official, for the purpose of criminal prosecution in relation to a specific criminal offence. Consequently, the decision was also inconsistent with established judicial practice.

The Criminal Extra-Judicial Panel of the High Court in Podgorica relied on actions undertaken in a different case, rather than in the case formed against specific individuals for specific criminal offences based on the criminal complaint submitted by MANS in 2019. As a result, the law was violated and the legal grounds for filing a Request for Protection of Legality were met.