"Ministers can be questioned in Kovačević case"

Ministers could be questioned in the Kovacevic case, but are not obligated to give police any information, just like other citizens, according to legal experts. State Prosecution Spokesman Tomo Zoric said yesterday that that everyone who came in contact with the information, labeled a state secret, will be questioned, including cabinet ministers. "Ministers can be questioned in Kovacevic case" The controversy pertains to confidential information about the case leaked the media last week. Legal expert Milan Skulic told B92 that ministers could be questioned by police just as other citizens cam, and that it might be necessary in this case to strip them of their immunity. However, Skulic said that it will not come to that, since immunity is lifted from a government official only when there is sufficient evidence to mount criminal prosecution against them. “Police can gather necessary information from any citizen, even ministers, but a minister, just like other citizens, is not obligated to tell the police, because the police do not have the right to question any citizens in the role of a witness,” he explained. “If there was a suspicion in the end that a person committed a crime in question, there would be a questioning of the suspect. And if that person was a minister, they have immunity from being charged criminally, but they could be prosecuted if the government approved it,” Skulic said. State Prosecutor Slobodan Radovanovic said that everyone, "from clerks to ministers", who could be involved and responsible for leaking the secret information regarding the case, would be questioned. On February 19, the Borba daily wrote that the government decided to pay USD 1mn of damages to the family of the American student whom Miladin Kovacevic allegedly assaulted brutally, adding that the government deemed the decision a state secret.

"Ministers can be questioned in Kovačević case"

The controversy pertains to confidential information about the case leaked the media last week.

Legal expert Milan Škulić told B92 that ministers could be questioned by police just as other citizens cam, and that it might be necessary in this case to strip them of their immunity.

However, Škulić said that it will not come to that, since immunity is lifted from a government official only when there is sufficient evidence to mount criminal prosecution against them.

“Police can gather necessary information from any citizen, even ministers, but a minister, just like other citizens, is not obligated to tell the police, because the police do not have the right to question any citizens in the role of a witness,” he explained.

“If there was a suspicion in the end that a person committed a crime in question, there would be a questioning of the suspect. And if that person was a minister, they have immunity from being charged criminally, but they could be prosecuted if the government approved it,” Škulić said.

State Prosecutor Slobodan Radovanović said that everyone, "from clerks to ministers", who could be involved and responsible for leaking the secret information regarding the case, would be questioned.

On February 19, the Borba daily wrote that the government decided to pay USD 1mn of damages to the family of the American student whom Miladin Kovačević allegedly assaulted brutally, adding that the government deemed the decision a state secret.