Montenegro: NGOs under surveillance

Anti-corruption NGO Transparency International (TI) has asked Brussels and Podgorica to protect NGO activists from threats and intimidation, reported the online newspaper B92.net on Thursday.

TI wants to ensure that activists of the Network for the Affirmation of the Non-governmental Sector (MANS) are protected from unjustified investigation and has sent a protest letter to Montenegrin Prime Minister and Parliament Speaker Milo Ðukanovic and Ranko Krivokapic.

TI has asked to know why the NGO was put under surveillance by the Montenegrin Agency for National Security (ANB).

TI also sent the letter to EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele and the Chief of the EU delegation in Montenegro, Leopold Maurer, calling on an action for securing the rights of civil organizations for continuing to work in the fight against corruption, Podgorica daily Vijesti reported on Wednesday.

The international NGOs Regional Director for Europe and Asia, Miklos Marschall, said that he was informed that the ANB wasrunning surveillance measures on MANS officials. 

“We are alarmed by this news and are writing with a demand for an explanation for this,” he stated.

This type of surveillance, which could include phone taps, gathering personal information regarding activists, and other measures, are usually against criminals, and individuals who are believed to be enemies of the state or present a serious risk to the country’s security, TI explained, according to a local daily.