Montenegro: public service hostage to cronyism

(Originally published by Montenegro Media Institute , 29 September, 2025)

The president and three members of the Council of Radio Television of Montenegro (RTCG, the Montenegrin public broadcaster) were recently convicted at first instance for abuse of office, as they once again appointed Boris Raonić as director of RTCG on June 1, 2023.

The ruling, although not final, has aroused great public interest and rather controversial reactions.

But first, let us retrace the salient elements of the story, which has now been going on for years.

The RTCG Council first appointed Raonić as director of the public broadcaster in August 2021 following a public competition. Already at that time, there were those who argued that Raonić did not meet the legal requirements for the election of the director of the public service broadcaster. However, most Council members ignored these well-reasoned claims.

Subsequently, in a final ruling issued on the basis of a complaint filed by Nikola Marković, one of the candidates in the above-mentioned competition, the Supreme Court in Podgorica found that Raonić had been elected illegally, annulling the decision on his appointment.

“From a legal perspective – states the ruling – the annulment of the decision may lead to a new selection process among the other candidates who applied or to the cancellation of the competition. In this case, the defendant [the RTCG Council, ed.] can reexamine the remaining applications and make a decision in accordance with the law”.

Despite the Supreme Court's ruling, in June 2023 the RTCG Council once again appointed Boris Raonić as director of the public broadcaster. This happened despite warnings that, following a final ruling, such a decision could result in criminal liability for the members of the Council.
This criticism was based on the Supreme Court's clear position that the RTCG Council had to choose between two options: cancel the 2021 competition and launch a new selection procedure for the director general, or appoint one of the remaining candidates, i.e., those who met the legal requirements.
Instead of choosing between the two options indicated by the Court, the RTCG Council accepted an interpretation that Raonić could be re-elected because he would have met the criteria laid down by law in the meantime.

“Lawyer Željko Mićović [member of the RTCG legal team, ed.] stated that Raonić has the right to run and that the members of the Council bear no criminal liability regarding the appointment of the director”, reads  the official report of the meeting published on the RTCG portal.

According to Mićović, the ruling “clearly states that all participants [in the first competition of 2021] can be included in the list [of candidates for the second nomination]”. Zorica Đukanović, Raonić’s lawyer, was also of the same opinion, arguing that the complaint against the RTCG Council was not aimed at canceling the competition.

When asked by Noad Zorić, a member of the RTCG Council, whether Raonić’s possible re-election could be considered legitimate, Mićović replied: “The Council is exempt from criminal liability. You have no liability because you annulled the [first] appointment [of Raonić in 2021]. You can vote for whoever you want”.

But it did not end there.

In October 2024, based on a complaint filed by Srđan Ćović, another candidate for the position of director of RTCG, the High Court in Podgorica issued a ruling similar to that of the Supreme Court, holding that Raonić’s second appointment as RTCG director, dating back to June 2023, was also unlawful.

The RTCG Council upheld the High Court’s decision, overturning the decision to re-elect Raonić in 2023, but then immediately decided to appoint Raonić as interim director.

Meanwhile, a new competition was held, and Raonić was elected director of RTCG for the third time. The remaining eight candidates appealed to the Labor Inspectorate, arguing that Raonić could not be elected for a third term, given that the Public Broadcasting Act provides for a two-term limit for the position of general director.

After several investigations, the Inspectorate ruled on the matter, maintaining that Raonić’s third appointment would be equivalent to a second term.

“We have come to the conclusion that, with the third appointment, Boris Raonić was given a new mandate (his second), while the second appointment did not mark the beginning of a new four-year term, but rather a continuation of the first term of 2021”.

Raonić’s case is not an isolated one. Among the many examples of violations of the two-term limit, those of former Montenegrin President Filip Vujanović and former Supreme Court President Vesna Medenica stand out.

Let us return, however, to the recent first-instance ruling against four members of the RTCG Council, accused of abuse of office and sentenced to prison terms, albeint with a suspended sentence.

Boris Raonić, speaking as a guest on RTCG’s main news program, commented on the verdict, defending his colleagues at the Council.

“The verdict against the Council members, besides being paradoxical and shameful, is legally unsustainable and dangerous for Montenegro’s legal system”, said Raonić. “Following the logic of this scandalous ruling, members of all collegial bodies could end up behind bars for their decisions, even in the absence of concrete evidence”.

Raonić then expressed his confidence that the High Court can demonstrate the strength and integrity necessary to “remedy this injustice and demonstrate that the rule of law still prevails in Montenegro”. The RTCG director also accused one of the judges of manipulating evidence to the detriment of the defendants.

The response from the judging panel was not long in coming.

“For us, respect for institutions and the legal system is not a cliché, but a principle”, wrote the judges in a statement. “Anyone who takes this principle seriously and upholds it would never go so far as to call a ruling that directly concerns them ‘shameful’ and ‘scandalous’, let alone launching a personal attack against a judge [...] This is not respect for institutions and the legal system, and it is certainly not benevolent, legitimate and legally founded criticism aimed at improving judicial practice and strengthening the rule of law”.

Article 12 of the Public Broadcasting Act obliges the RTCG and its employees, among other things, to contribute to respecting and strengthening fundamental rights and freedoms, democratic values and institutions, the pluralism of ideas, the culture of public dialogue, language standards, privacy and human dignity, as well as to provide impartial, accurate, timely, comprehensible and balanced information on events of public interest.

According to the RTCG Code of Ethics, which was adopted during one of Raonić’s terms, all employees of the public broadcaster are required to comply with the following ethical standards: legality of work, the principle of professionalism, competence and impartiality, the principle of moral integrity and honesty, equality and respect for human rights, human dignity, and the principle of accountability and transparency (Article 2).

Employees, in their public statements, must demonstrate honesty, professionalism and moderation, avoiding statements that could objectively conflict with their work. This includes statements regarding matters of public interest and those involving criticism of politicians, government officials and other public figures, with the employee’s obligation to carefully distinguish between facts and value judgments (Article 15).

Finally, RTCG employees, in their public appearances, should not make defamatory statements about individuals or legal entities. They must respect the culture and legality of public discourse, refraining from making statements that could damage the public broadcaster’s reputation. If a RTCG employee decides to publicly express a personal opinion, they must emphasize that it is their own opinion, in accordance with Article 16 of the Code of Ethics.

Thus, ethics in the media is reflected not only in the content of programs, but also in the way a media outlet is managed, as well as in compliance with laws and court decisions.

If the director of Radio Television Montenegro violates the above-mentioned principles, as in the case of Boris Raonić, it is the responsibility of the RTCG Council to intervene. However, a vicious circle has developed, with the Council having spent the past five years simply reconfirming Raonić as head of the public broadcaster. 

This publication is the result of activities carried out within the Media Freedom Rapid Response and within ATLIB - Transnational Advocacy for Freedom of Information in the Western Balkans, a project co-funded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. All opinions expressed represent the views of their author and not those of the co-funding institutions.

This content is part of the Media Freedom Rapid Response  (MFRR), a Europe-wide mechanism which tracks, monitors and responds to violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States and Candidate Countries. The project is co-funded by the European Commission.