TIRANA, Feb. 22, 2023 – Montenegro police say a video published on social media on Tuesday which shows an Albanian citizen being ill treated by customs officials at the border by Montenegrin officers, was recorded on January 15.
The incident, according to the authorities, happened at the border point Sukobina-Muriqan and had led to the sacking of the deputy director of the border post.
It shows a man being grabbed in the face while in his car, then dragged out by a police officer, while his family members attempt to communicate in Albanian and English to no avail.
The man has been identified as Petraq Milo, a well-known Albanian academic and economist who had served as an advisor to Albanian prime ministers and presidents in the past.
Ljubomir Filipović, a Montenegrin media analyst, identified Mr. Milo in a tweet and said the video posted on Facebook and “caused public outrage in both counties.”
“Regarding this event, measures and official actions have been taken that have resulted in the discovery of the identity of all the actors involved in the mentioned event and the responsibility of the police officials is being determined,” Montenegro police said in a statement.
The matter surfaced again after a longer, more revealing video appeared online and was published by Albanian and Montenegrin media this week. These are two different videos of the same event, but the second video is longer and clearer, as it was filmed up close.
In the published video, at one point you can see and hear how a man from the vehicle tells the police that “I didn’t do anything.” In the video, the sentence “put down the phone” can also be heard, as the police forcefully pulls the Albanian citizen out of the car.
Tirana and Podgorica enjoy strong and friendly relations and incidents like these are not common as hundreds of people cross the border daily without incident.
However, there were angry calls on social media on Montenegro’s acting prime minister, a member of the country’s ethnic Albanian minority, to address the matter more forcefully.
The Albanian and Montenegrin governments are scheduled to hold a joint meeting on Feb. 27.
The incident had been noted on Jan. 16, by an Albanian political party in Montenegro which had announced that Montenegro police had “mistreated an Albanian citizen”.
Together with this announcement, this party also presented a video published by the Albanian media, asking the authorities to reveal what had happened at the border crossing point.
On Feb. 21, the Albanian Alternative party said that this was “a terrible, devastating incident for Montenegro” that happened a few days before the planned joint meeting of the two governments.
