MANS Director and Assistant Arrested

Ivana Stevanovic
Network for Affirmation of the Non-governmental Sector - MANS

06 March 2007

Vanja Calovic, MANS Executive Director

Vanja Calovic, Director of the Network for Affirmation of Nongovernmental Sector � MANS, and Veselin Bajceta, Assistant to the MANS Anti-Corruption programme, were detained on Sunday, March 4, by Podgorica Police, during the �KAP Spends, Who Pays?�

After several hours of detention, they were released, but Calovic will be charged with insults and humiliation of public official, while Bajceta will be charged with obstruction of public official in pursuit of official business.

Three weeks ago, MANS started a petition demanding that the citizens of Montenegro pay the same price of electricity asked from the Podgorica Aluminium Corporation (KAP). So far, the petition was signed by more than 28,000 citizens.

The Sunday�s performance in Podgorica was organized as an invitation to the Minister of Economy to receive the petition materials. During the performance, communal authorities and the police demanded from the organizers to remove the stands where petition signing took place, invoking regulations on refuse and littering. After ignoring the demands presented by the communal police, Calovic and Bajceta were arrested and detained.

MANS announced that it will bring up criminal charges against four unknown assailants that attacked Bajceta while he was collecting signatures for the petition and attempted to illegally confiscate MANS property and materials with citizens� signatures.

"It is a well-known fact that MANS doesn�t distribute promotional leaflets, or dumps construction refuse on the city square. We collect signatures by the citizens and inform them about the civic initiative. The Constitution provides the right to all citizens to start an initiative, free from prosecution or other harmful consequences, and it also guarantees that we can distribute information to the citizens and collect signatures without the obligation to seek prior permission. We don�t have to pass any censor�s office, including the offices of the City of Podgorica�, says MANS in a statement released to the public.

The organization expects from the competent bodies and institutions to react to prevent any future attempts to obstruct activities of NGOs, intimidate those that demand that their Constitutional rights are observed, to arrest and interrogate organizers of civil initiatives.

The MANS campaign KAP Spends, Who Pays the Bill was joined by about 50 Montenegrin NGOs, as well as a number of trade unions.