Activity Details (ID# 7423)

Activity Synopsis

The objectives of the seminar were:

- to familiarise judges, prosecutors, lawyers, journalists and police officers with the question of the balance to be struck between freedom of expression and information and other fundamental rights, in particular the right to a fair trial and to the presumption of innocence as well as the right to privacy,

- to present the relevant Council of Europe standards: case law of the European Court of Human Rights and Committee of Ministers texts on the provision of information through the media in relation to criminal proceedings,

- to compare these standards with the existing Montenegrin legislation.


 

The seminar was very well attended. The discussions were interesting and constructive thanks to the very good presentations of the national and Council of Europe experts, the diversity of the target groups and the topics.

During the discussions, the participants stressed that, according to the opinion polls, the level of public confidence in the judiciary is very low. On the other hand, 40% of Montenegrin journalists are not graduates at all and even less are graduates of journalism, possibly indicating a problem of professional approach to journalistic work. It shows that the situation in Montenegro concerning freedom of expression and information and other fundamental rights is not ideal but the fact that the participants were conscious of all these problems could be considered as a good sign for positive change.

During the seminar, the participants exchanged their experience with the Council of Europe experts concerning freedom of expression and information in the context of criminal proceedings, its scope and limits within the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and, on the other hand, Montenegrin legislation and practice. In this context, the participants received the Recommendation Rec (2003)13 of the Committee of Ministers to member States on the provision of information through the media in relation to criminal proceedings, as well as the Explanatory Memorandum and Declaration of the same name translated into their language.
It was noticeable that, during the role-playing exercises, the participants referred to the Recommendation.

The participants also took the opportunity to put questions about the functioning of the European Court of Human Rights in general (one expert was a lawyer in the Italian Unit at the Court), as well as the functioning of the judiciary in France and Italy (the other expert was from France).

Several journalists from newspapers and the electronic media were present and interviewed the national and Council of Europe experts.

 

The general conclusion was that existing Montenegrin media legislation is in line with European standards but is still not properly implemented. The evaluation questionnaires completed by the participants showed that this kind of training is a very good opportunity for all interested parties to learn and see how to apply these new laws and adopt a new approach in their practice. All participants expressed their wish to continue this type of activity.

This seminar was the last in a series of three seminars on the same topic.
 

Judges, prosecutors, lawyers, journalists and police officers 

Mr. Andrea TAMIETTI, Lawyer at the Registry of the European Court of Human Rights
Mr. Frédéric GRAS, Barrister, France
Mr Zoran PAZIN, judge, Basic Court in Podgorica
Mr Vladimir CEJOVIC, Lawyer, Podgorica

 

Mr. Vladimir RISTOVSKI, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Podgorica,
Ms Slobodanka KARISIK, Council of Europe Office in Podgorica
Ms Lejla DERVISAGIC, Media Division, Directorate General of Human Rights