In the period from January 1, 2001 to February 28, 2017, at least 73 femicides took place in Montenegro. In the period from 2018 to the end of 2021, 12 women were killed, and by July 2022 two more women. Data on the number of femicides for the period from 2011 to 2022 were obtained based on the monitoring and analysis of available media articles. CŽP activists warned in July of this year that their records are certainly incomplete, because it is quite certain that a certain number of femicides never reach the media, and that no one keeps records of women who die after enduring violence for a long time.
Another phenomenon that is not talked about anywhere and has only been shyly opened recently by the British "Guardian" are the suicides of women as a result of gender-based violence.
According to the data that the Center for Women's Rights requested from the competent courts, in 2021, the misdemeanor courts had 2176 cases related to domestic violence. By the end of 2021, misdemeanor courts have concluded 70,73 percent of cases, 1539 of them, but the penal policy is mild. In the total number of completed cases, prison sentences were imposed in only 7 percent of the cases that were conducted before the misdemeanor courts. Suspended sentences prevail - 19 percent, fines - 29 percent, warnings - 8 percent, educational measures - 1,4 percent. Protective measures of removal from the apartment were imposed in only 3 percent of cases, prohibition of approaching in 7,7 percent of cases, and prohibition of harassment and stalking in 12,5 percent of cases.
The problem with prevention
According to the data of the Police Administration, in the period from January to November 2021, 177 criminal acts of violence in the family or in the family community were processed, as well as another 28 criminal acts that can be linked to domestic violence (mostly the criminal act of failure to provide maintenance ). In this period, 1.295 violations were committed.
When you look at the number of pronounced protective measures that are the first line of protection for women against potential femicide, it is clear that in Montenegro there are the most problems with prevention. The unstable political situation and frequent changes of government have caused various good proposals to fall into the background. One of the proposals is the initiative to introduce femicide as a separate crime. However, the tightening of penalties without adequate prevention leads to nothing. Montenegro is the country that ratified Istanbul Convention, and this binding document is explicit in that when determining the punishment, it also takes into account the impact it will have on the victim. Unfortunately, this does not happen in practice.
The murder of Sheila Bakia
According to one of the studies, within the framework of the program Support to anti-discrimination and gender equality policies, every other woman in Montenegro has experienced some kind of violence during her life. Many people are still silent about the horrors they are experiencing. "The institutions, through the example of Šejla Bakija, drove them away even stronger and deeper in silence," claimed the Montenegrin "Monitor".
Šeila Bakija, a nineteen-year-old girl who was brutally murdered on September 30, 2022 by her unmarried ex-husband Ilir Đokaj, did not remain silent about the violence she suffered. She asked the state to protect her from the threats she was receiving. Because she did not want to renew her extramarital union with him, Đokaj (28) took out a gun from under her hoodie on the terrace of the Bakija family home, and then shot her several times, and seriously wounded her father.
In her report to the Police Directorate (UP) exactly one month before she was killed, she described how Đokaj mistreated her: "Neither in heaven nor on earth will there be another." I won't let you marry someone else! Blood will be shed for these things, your life is in my hands", he once said when he broke into her house. In the application, she stated that because of everything Ilir Đokaj does to her, she feels threatened and fears for her safety.
The prosecutor on duty at the Basic State Prosecutor's Office (ODT) in Podgorica assessed that there were no elements of a criminal offense in the specific event. The day after the report, Đokaj was deprived of his liberty due to a misdemeanor from the Act on the Protection of Domestic Violence - threat of attack, and immediately afterwards he was brought before the competent misdemeanor judge for further proceedings.
A month later, Ilir Đokaj killed Sheila Bakija.
At the time Sheila was killed, the Basic State Prosecutor's Office came out with a worrying stance in a country that is supposed to apply the Istanbul Convention. Namely, according to them, the Law on Protection from Domestic Violence is lex specialis, that is, a special law that changes the general law in certain situations in relation to the Criminal Code. When a country ratifies the Istanbul Convention, the Law on Protection from Domestic Violence cannot be lex specialis in relation to the Criminal Code. Possibly, if interpreted imaginatively, it can be lex specialis in relation to the laws relating to misdemeanors, but, we repeat, that would be a very imaginative interpretation.
The Istanbul Convention implies that the legislation adopted in accordance with it should be in accordance with the constitutions and criminal laws of the signatory countries. So, the rule, not the exception.
Tightening the penalties for femicide, without adequate prevention, leads to nothing. Montenegro did ratify the Istanbul Convention, which is explicit in that when determining the punishment, the impact it will have on the victim is also taken into account, but this does not happen in practice. Written by: Jovana Gligorijević
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