Hundreds of thousands of anti-government protesters have once again assembled in Thailand’s capital to give support to Thaksin Shinawatra and seek removal of government led by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, which they call illegitimate and undemocratic.

Mr Shinawatra is a Thai businessman who was Prime Minister of Thailand from 2001 to 2006, when he was deposed in a military coup and convicted for conflict of interests and corruption.

He is said to be one of the richest people in Thailand, with billions - 76.6 billion baht (about US$2.3 billion dollars). That is the total value of his and his family’s assets that are currently frozen in Thailand. But there is speculation that he has a great deal more money elsewhere. (CNN)

However, the Shinawatra government also faced allegations of corruption, authoritarianism, conflicts of interest, acting non-diplomatically, and attacking the freedom of speech. Thaksin was accused of tax evasion and selling national assets to international investors. Independent bodies, including Amnesty International, criticized Thaksin’s human rights record.

Shinawatra’s visit to Montenegro caused a great deal of media speculations in the country, as well as political debates over the actions of Montenegrin government that already faced allegations for issuing Montenegrin passports to several persons who are on the Interpol “wanted” red list. Some opposition politicians claim that Montenegro is slowly becoming a safe ground for all those who need to escape from the justice and continue their large businesses. Some analysts say that this is going perfectly well with the essence of Montenegrin ruling regime, which is already becoming prominent as one of the most corrupt in Europe, while its Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic and other high officials are accused and under investigation at Italian courts for tobacco smuggling, money-laundering and other criminal activities during the 1990’s. (read more here)   
Montenegrin government denied those claims, explaining that constant positive statements from the EU officials about Montenegrin progress, are the best confirmation of the current government’s position.  

Related news:
Profile: Thaksin Shinawatra
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1108114.stm

CNN Explainer: What are the protests in Thailand about?

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Serbian B92 reported that Medojevic was attacked by an unidentified person of about 30 years of age, who attempted to strike him and told him to “stop mentioning Branislav Micunovic.” Micunovic is a wealthy and very influential businessman, whom Medojevic has called “the most power person in Montenegro,” stating that “everything depends on him, even police actions.”

Recently, all major Serbian politicians and medias started speaking and reporting openly about the “Balkan cocaine route” and they all point out that Montenegro is not coopearting enough with regional police organizations who are trying to catch some of the most-wanted persons from the Interpol list in the Balkans. Montenegrin government officials deny such accusations and stated that Serbia is trying to slow down Montenegrin progress towards EU, by “transporting” all problems into Montenegro and changing focus from Kosovo and other huge domestic issues that they have.

The problem emerged when Serbianpolice in cooperation with American DEA and other organizations tried to catch Saric brothers, alleged “narco-bosses” of the Balkans and others related to them. Several sources indicated that they are hiding in Montenegro, but officials of Montenegrin Police denied it.
Here are some of the excerpts from this major regional issue:

Serbian TV station B92:
Cocaine kingpin hides in Montenegro. Serbian Special Prosecutor for Organize Crime, Miljko Radisavljevic said that cocaine smuggling suspect Darko Saric is currently in Montenegro. “According to very serious estimates, it is easiest for him to be hiding in that country, so this possibility definitely cannot be ruled out,” Radisavljevic said. (read the whole story)

Justice Minister Snezana Malovic said that Serbia is ready to cooperation with all countries in the fight against organized crime. She said that the Montenegrin government’s actions in the case of suspected drug smuggler Darko Saric were not in accordance with the rules of behavior for prosecutions and international legal aids. “This shows that the decisions of the Serbian courts are not respected and that there is no will for cooperation,” Malovic said, adding that some people who are wanted for crimes in Serbia have received Montenegrin citizenship, which shows that there is no decisive will present in the fight against organized crime. (read whole article)

Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic thinks that there is not a single reason for Montenegro not to arrest Darko Saric, as there was “very clear evidence against him”. Saric’s case has been creating tension and mutual accusations between the judicial authorities of Serbia and Montenegro. Saric – a Montenegro-born holder of Serbian passport – is currently at large, wanted in Serbia in connection to a cocaine trafficking case, when his gang last year allegedly tried to smuggle over two tons of cocaine from South America to Europe. (read the whole article)

Italian Chief Prosecutor of the National Anti-Mafia Bureau Pietro Grasso has commented on the cooperation his office has with Serbia, and Montenegro. Grasso was quoted as saying by the Podgorica-based TV Vijesti that his bureau has the most effective cooperation regarding organized crime and drug trafficking with the colleagues in Serbia, and the worst with the Montenegrin prosecution. (read the whole story)

Goran Sokovic and Dejan Sekularac, accused of smuggling two tons of cocaine from South America to Europe, were released from custody in Montenegro. According to TV Montenegro, they were released after the state prosecution decided that there was not enough evidence to prosecute them, because Serbia refused to send evidence against them until Operation Balkan Warrior was complete. The mastermind behind the massive drug smuggling operation is believed to be Darko Saric, who is currently a fugitive from justice. According to the Serbian prosecution’s decision, the information will not be forwarded to Montenegrin authorities, until the case before the Serbian courts against Sokovic, Sekularac and 19 others has finished. (read the whole story)

Serbian newspaper “Blic”
“Blic” reported that American DEA located Saric klan leader in Bijelo Polje, Montenegro.  The USA services have recently located Darko Saric (40) suspected for smuggling of 2,7 tons of cocaine in Bijelo Polje and requested from Montenegrin authorities to carry out a search there, ‘Blic’ learns. The international services believe that Saric has not left Montenegro, that he is still there and that he enjoys protection of the most powerful people involved in criminal activities. Director of Montenegrin Police Veselin Veljovic claimed publicly that Saric was in a European country and that information of his whereabouts would be forwarded to Serbia.
‘Although Veljovic claimed that Saric was not in Montenegro, after pressure from abroad, he and others in Montenegro had to change the story. Apart from that it is extremely unusual that a Prime Minister of a country is interfering in giving of a citizenship especially to a person under international investigation for smuggling of huge quantity of drugs’, our source close to the international investigation against Saric says. (read the whole story)

Internet news portal attacked by government - controlled National Television of Montenegro.

Daily News Montenegro was shown in the main TV news reportage, as an example of “uncontrolled” media where “anybody can say whatever they want”. Even though all users of Daily News Montenegro web site know the quality of information as well as independent commentators, analysts and bloggers who appear on the site, State Television tried to accuse the portal for uncontrolled commenting where even “messages of hate and violence can be found”. That was of course a clear attack on the freedom of speech, and hundreds of comments with reactions were posted at Daily News Portal. The site is known for its independent comments and critics towards undemoratic practices of Montenegrin regime.

This is the occassion to repeat some of the comments being made during last year:

Most analysts believed that Montenegro will make good progress towards European Union, after becoming independent in 2006. This tiny country of amazing natural beauties, with only 650.000 citizens, has potential for fast development and quick accession into EU. Unfortunately, it seems that everyone is slowly realising that Montenegro is far away from any progress.
Not only that ruling elite did nothing to make things better, but even worse, they introduced many of those activities, while promoting themselves as „pro European“ regime, with absolute support of the EU and their officials. The European Union is slowly loosing its credibility among Montenegrin citizens, since they often give open support to the ruling regime. The fact that ex-communist ruling elite is keeping all branches of State power in their hands, makes impossible to make any changes during elections. Even though the voting day may seem to be perfect, none of the elections so far, were free in Montenegro. Large number of citizens are under constant pressure, humiliation and influence by the activists of ruling party, and since Montenegro has only 450.000 voters, it makes it so easy to keep control of everything. That is another reason why many oppossition oriented parties and citizens decided to boycott all recent elections in Montenegro (read more about recent political developments here)

In the times when the whole Balkans region became a war zone, Montenegro was lucky enough to have its own freedom movement - alliance of people of all ethnic backgrounds and religions, which was unique at that time in the war-affected ex-Yugoslavia ! Liberal Alliance of Montenegro was founded on January 26th 1990, and was the first opposition party in Montenegro. It promoted anti-war politics, progressive and independent Montenegro, and joining United Europe. Because of those European values, the ruling regime of Montenegro (the same ruling party who runs the country now) have called members of Liberal Alliance as “traitors” and “servants of the west”. During those years, hundreds of people were threatened, scared off and put under pressure, if being noticed as supporters of this movement. Despite everything, the movement was constantly growing, and spreaded hope, peace and love among so many people who were surrounded by the atmosphere of hate, fear and constant pressure of the government. Nowadays, after 20 years, the government of Montenegro does exactly the same things that Liberal Alliance was promoting in 1990’s.  Tens of thousands of Montenegrin citizens feel that they literraly lost twenty years, while the EU and the rest of international community still tends to support the undemocratic system in Montenegro.

Unfortunately, Montenegro is still perhaps the only European country that never experienced the real essence of “democratic system” - the shift of power between the ruling regime and the opposition. Being such a small state (only 650.000 citizens) makes the State system very special, and easy for the ruling party to control and influence the citizens, making sure that all elections are smoothly won by the ruling regime. In order to draw international attention towards small Montenegro, Liberal Alliance of Montenegro has „frozen“ its political activities in March 2005, explaining that Montenegro lacks basic democratic principles which would ensure normal and independent functioning of an opposition party. Last election of March 2009, proved that opposition indeed doesn’t have even smallest opportunity to make any progress as ruling party won more than absolute majority again (in some towns more than 65%). Independent analysts believe that changes are impossible since ruling party holds the monopoly in all mechanisms of the State, which are remained habits from communist times. (read here the article “Why victory is impossible for the opposition“)

However, members of the movement stayed active on the internet and continued to promote liberal and progressive ideas, in order to urge citizens that changes are neccessary for Montenegro. In that matter, several blogs and online initiatives were created, which soon became an ”oasis” for the people who want independent news and analyses. The movement has shown its real strength when the idea of boycott was promoted by the prominent opposition politician Slavko Perovic, on his blog. Mr Perovic is leader of Liberal Alliance of Montenegro and former vice president of Liberal International. His blog had more than 350.000 visits over the last 2 years. He appealed to citizens and opposition leaders that the only way out of political agony is to completely end any form of collaboration with the current regime, and to start with hard process of reconciliation and necessary internal changes. Firstly the idea was widely spread among citizens, and soon political leaderships of all major opposition parties accepted it. For those unfamiliar with political situation in Montenegro, it may seem quite amazing to hear this, since most of news about the tiny Balkan state refers to it as a “prosperous country which is fastly progressing towards EU”. (Read here the article “Credibility of Montenegrin regime questioned by many”)

Maybe the best way to remember how brave and progressive were the ideas of Liberal Alliance, is to watch a short YouTube clip about the 1990’s, with statements from Slavko Perovic (Liberal Alliance) and current Prime Minister of Montenegro - Milo Djukanovic (he was PM in the 1990’s too, read here more about his controversial biography)

The video clip is available here: