Podgorica, (MINA-BUSINESS) – The Supreme State Prosecutor’s Office, acting on a substantiated initiative from the Special State Prosecutor’s Office, has filed a request for the protection of legality against a ruling by the Higher Court in Podgorica in the case publicly known as Telekom.

“The decision of the Higher Court, in which the Criminal Pre-Trial Chamber determined that the so-called relative statute of limitations for criminal prosecution had not expired for the criminal offences covered by the criminal charges filed by the NGO MANS, on the grounds that procedural actions aimed at identifying the perpetrators and the criminal offences had meanwhile been undertaken and had interrupted the limitation period, was made contrary to the legal provisions governing the interruption of the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution and contrary to the principles of criminal law theory,” the Office said in a press release. 

The Supreme Court had previously taken the position that a procedural action may interrupt the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution only if it is undertaken against a specific person, by a competent authority or person, for the purpose of prosecuting a specific criminal offence, which is why the ruling was also contrary to established court practice.

“The Criminal Pre-Trial Chamber of the Higher Court considered actions undertaken in another case, rather than in the case initiated against specific individuals for specific criminal offences based on the criminal charges filed by MANS in 2019, thereby violating the law and creating the conditions for filing a request for the protection of legality,” the press release reads.