Bečić: Montenegro will not rest until justice is served

Today, alongside Minister of the Interior Danilo Šaranović and Minister of Defence Dragan Krapović, I paid tribute to the late Duško Jovanović, a man who will forever be remembered as a principled guardian of truth and a fighter for justice.

It has been 20 years since that fateful day on 27 May 2004, when I, then a high school student, received the heartbreaking news of Duško Jovanović's murder. Every May 27, whether as an ordinary citizen or a public official, whenever I was in Montenegro, I have come to this place to honor everything he stood for and what his life and work meant to Montenegro. Today, as the Deputy Prime Minister for Security, Internal Policy, European, and Foreign Affairs, I have come to pay tribute and send the message that the fact that we still do not have the names of the perpetrators and instigators of this heinous act after 20 years is a significant stain on Montenegro's reputation. I am certain that Montenegro will not rest until justice is served, stated Deputy Prime Minister Aleksa Bečić after laying the wreath on the anniversary of Duško Jovanović's murder.

Adding that the majority of the responsibility lies with the prosecution and expressing satisfaction with the recent intensification of activities welcomed by the relevant commission, the Deputy Prime Minister stated, "I believe that all other stakeholders in society will contribute to uncovering the truth, and we will certainly strive to ensure this happens. We know that the passage of 20 years is significant and poses a challenge in investigating such crimes, but I am convinced that truth and justice must always be achieved. In this direction, I endorse the recent proposals by the relevant commission to offer a monetary reward for information leading us to the perpetrators and instigators of Duško Jovanović's murder and other lawful proposals put forth by the commission. I believe this is the bare minimum that we, as a government and as a state, must do to shed light on this case. Additionally, I believe that with the passage of 20 years, the conditions are in place to quickly and efficiently establish a memorial and name a street in Podgorica after the late Duško Jovanović, a process that depends partly on local and partly on state authorities.

Certainly, Montenegro will not rest until justice is served, and the fight for truth led by Duško Jovanović will be eternal," concluded Bečić.