Budva Municipality

The ex-president of the former state union of Serbia and Montenegro, Svetozar Marovic, was released from custody on Tuesday after he signed a plea bargain with the special prosecution for organised crime and corruption and agreed to serve three years and eight months in prison.

The Special Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime in Montenegro ordered the arrest of the former president of the state union of Serbia and Montenegro Svetozar Marovic on Thursday.

Marovic, who chairs the political council of the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists, DPS, was arrested in connection to corruption cases centred on the resort of Budva.

The Montenegrin state prosecutor on Monday charged ex-mayor Lazar Radjenovic and several other officials from the scandal-hit resort town of Budva with abuse of office and costing the local budget eight million euros.

50-year-old Budva resident Gojko B. has been arrested for using a pistol to force an Albanian tourist "to speak Montenegrin."

According to the Podgorica daily Vijesti, the incident happened in a cafe near the bus station in this Montenegrin seaside resort.

Several high ranking officials of the Budva municipality, including Mayor Lazar Radjenovic and city manager Milena Marovic-Bogdanovic, have been arrested.

On the orders of Montenegro's Special Organized Crime Prosecution, adviser to the prime minister Aleksandar Ticic and former municipal leaders Rajko Kuljaca and Dragan Marovic have also been detained.

Serbs in Montenegro are discriminated against but they intend to be persistent in asserting their rights, their representatives told Tomislav Nikolic on Monday.

They organized a reception for the Serbian president after the summit of leaders of the Brdo-Brioni Process in Budva and informed him about the problems they are facing.

The UAE-based company Royal Group has pulled out of a project to build a luxury resort in the Dubovica bay in the coastal towns of Budva and Bar after failing to reach a deal on a long-term lease of a beach.