Criminal Law

Many criminal files in Montenegro do not begin with an arrest. They begin with a letter: a tax inspection that has turned into a criminal complaint, a building inspector's prohibition decision, a bank that has frozen a transfer, a buyer who has discovered that the seller did not own the flat. The arrest, when it comes, comes later, and by then the decisions that shape the file have usually been made.

This page is for the people on both sides of those files: the owner, director or manager of a company in Montenegro whose decisions the prosecutor is now reading as offences; the company itself, which Montenegrin law can prosecute and fine separately from any individual; the foreign national taken into custody; and the victim of a fraud who needs the criminal case to move and the money to come back. It also covers the Turkish leg of files that cross between Türkiye and Montenegro, which I handle with Turkish-bar colleagues.

The texts. Krivični zakonik Crne Gore (Criminal Code, "KZ"), Službeni list RCG 70/2003 … and Službeni list CG … 121/2025, 117/2026 and 137/2026. I read the Supreme State Prosecutor's consolidated text (to 121/2025) and the adopted texts of the two 2026 amendments (Skupština EPA 1109 and EPA 1176) on 7 October 2026. Zakonik o krivičnom postupku (Criminal Procedure Code, "ZKP"), Službeni list CG 57/2009 … 54/2024 and 132/2026; the 132/2026 amendment has been in force since 17 September 2026 and I read its adopted text on 7 October 2026. Zakon o odgovornosti pravnih lica za krivična djela (Act on the Criminal Liability of Legal Persons, "ZOPL"), Službeni list RCG 2/2007, 13/2007 and Službeni list CG 30/2012, 39/2016 and 132/2026; the 132/2026 amendment has been in force since 10 September 2026 and I read its adopted text (Skupština EPA 1158) on 7 October 2026. Zakon o međunarodnoj pravnoj pomoći u krivičnim stvarima (Mutual Legal Assistance Act), Službeni list CG 160/2025, in force since 7 January 2026. Turkish provisions are cited from the texts on mevzuat.gov.tr, read on 7 October 2026. This is general information about the law, not advice on a particular file.

Montenegro at a glance

Who I write this for

The company owner or director. Your exposure in Montenegro is rarely the offence you would expect; more often it is a tax return, a balance sheet, a payment made when the company could no longer pay everyone, a building that went up before the paperwork, or a worker whose stay had expired. Each of those has a criminal provision behind it, and each reaches the person who actually ran the matter, whatever the register says.

The company. Montenegro prosecutes legal persons. The fine is calculated as a multiple of the damage or gain, it follows the business into a successor, and the Act gives a company a defence built on what it did before the offence.

The foreign national in custody. The 2026 amendment to the Criminal Procedure Code rewrote the rights of a person deprived of liberty, including written notice of rights in your own language. The first 72 hours are where those rights are won or lost.

The victim. A criminal complaint in Montenegro is not a form you file and wait on. The prosecutor can reject it, the deadlines for answering a rejection are counted in days, and the property claim has to be put into the criminal case or taken to a civil court.

1. When the company is the defendant

The Act on the Criminal Liability of Legal Persons applies to companies, foreign companies and branches of foreign companies, investment funds and associations that raise and dispose of funds (ZOPL Art. 4(1)). If you operate in Montenegro through a branch, the branch is inside the Act.

The basis of liability. A legal person is liable for an offence committed by its responsible person acting on its behalf within their authority with the intention of obtaining a benefit for it, or where the responsible person acted contrary to its business policy or instructions (ZOPL Art. 5(1)). The second limb matters: "the manager disobeyed our instructions" is not, in itself, a defence for the company. Since 10 September 2026 there is a third route: the company is also liable for an offence committed for its benefit by a person acting under the direction of a responsible person, where the offence was made possible by that responsible person's failure to carry out the supervision or control they were obliged to exercise (Art. 5(2), added by 132/2026). A missing control is now itself a basis of corporate liability.

Independent of the individual. The company can be liable even if the responsible person is not convicted, and the company's liability does not remove the person's (ZOPL Art. 6(1)–(2)). Subjective elements that exist only in the person, such as intent, are assessed against the company too (Art. 6(3)).

Who counts as a responsible person. For the Act: a natural person entrusted with tasks in the legal person, anyone authorised to act in its name, anyone who may reasonably be presumed to be so authorised, and a shareholder acting in its name (ZOPL Art. 4(2)). For the Criminal Code: the owner of the company, or a person entrusted with a range of tasks by function, invested funds or authorisation, or to whom particular tasks have in fact been entrusted (KZ Art. 142(4); the 137/2026 amendment rewrote Article 142 and kept this paragraph). A nominee director does not move the risk away from the person who in fact runs the business.

Fines. The fine follows the damage caused or the unlawful gain, whichever is higher, and runs from twice to one hundred times that amount (ZOPL Art. 14(1)–(2)); where there is no measurable damage or gain, or it cannot be established in reasonable time, from EUR 4,000 to EUR 40,000,000 (Art. 14(3)). Since 10 September 2026 the fine is also set in proportion to the company's total annual turnover in the business year before the offence (Art. 14(4)). The 132/2026 amendment replaced Article 15, which ties the band to the prison term for the underlying offence:

Chapter 25 of the Criminal Code is the environmental chapter; the turnover-based bands transpose the EU directive on the protection of the environment through criminal law (Directive (EU) 2024/1203). The same amendment added exclusion from access to public funding to the legal consequences of a conviction, alongside the existing bans on public procurement, licences and concessions (Art. 33a).

Successors. If the legal person ceases to exist before the proceedings end, the fine, security measures and confiscation can be imposed on its legal successor; if it ceases after a final judgment, they are enforced against the successor (ZOPL Art. 8). In a share or asset deal, an open criminal file against the target is a due diligence item, not a footnote.

What the company can do in advance. The Act defines "effective, necessary and reasonable measures": adopted standards and procedures to detect and prevent offences, a programme with resources and continuous oversight, supervision by the management body, removing a suspected person from management, training, a confidential reporting channel and disciplinary measures (ZOPL Art. 4(3)). A company that took all such measures may be released from punishment (Art. 23(3)). So may one that discovers and reports the offence before it learns of the proceedings (Art. 23(1)), or that voluntarily returns the gain or remedies the harm without delay (Art. 23(2)). These are discretionary releases, not guarantees, but they are the only part of the file a company controls before anything happens.

2. The offences that reach owners and managers

All penalties below are from the Criminal Code as amended to 137/2026, checked on 7 October 2026. The 2026 amendments did not change Articles 244, 264, 272, 275, 278 or 412; they did change Articles 225a, 268 and 326a–326c, and the new wording is used here.

Tax. Article 264 concerns lawfully earned income. Hiding the proceeds of crime is money laundering under Article 268, a different offence. Attempt is punishable under Article 264(5). The investigation usually starts in the Tax Administration's procedure, which is why the answer given in the tax file is often the first statement in the criminal one. The officer's side is set out in tax offences and company officers in Montenegro.

Money laundering inside a regulated business. Since 22 September 2026 Article 268(5) sets a separate band of one to ten years where the offence is committed by an entity obliged under the anti-money-laundering law, or by its responsible person, in the course of their professional activity. Developers, real-estate agents, notaries and payment businesses should read their AML file with that in mind; the obligations themselves are in AML obligations for businesses, and the power of a bank or the financial intelligence unit to stop a payment is in transaction suspension.

Construction. The 137/2026 amendment, in force since 22 September 2026, rewrote Article 326a as "unlawful construction of a building", deleted Article 326b (the separate offence for complex engineering structures) and rewrote Article 326c on connection to infrastructure. Proceedings started before that date are finished under the rules under which they started (new KZ Art. 486a). Each person and the company are assessed separately: building without a permit — the criminal layer.

Employment. Article 225a was rewritten by the same amendment. It no longer requires an aggravating circumstance for the basic offence: employing even one third-country national who is staying unlawfully in Montenegro is now an offence carrying a fine or up to two years (Art. 225a(1)). Repeated or permanent employment carries six months to three years (Art. 225a(2)); particularly exploitative conditions, a trafficking victim or a minor carry six months to five years (Art. 225a(3)–(4)). The trigger is still unlawful stay, not a missing work permit; a worker staying lawfully without the right permit is a matter for the Foreigners Act's administrative fines (Zakon o strancima Art. 210). The administrative side is in what a Montenegrin employer can be fined for.

Deferred prosecution. For offences carrying a fine or up to five years, the prosecutor may defer prosecution if the suspect accepts an obligation, such as remedying the harm or paying compensation, to be performed within six months (ZKP Art. 272(1)–(2)). For several of the offences in the table above, that is the realistic end of a file, and the conditions are negotiated early.

3. Taken into custody in Montenegro

The Criminal Procedure Code was amended by Službeni list CG 132/2026, in force since 17 September 2026. The rights below are in the text as it stands now.

Rights at the moment of arrest. A person deprived of liberty must be told immediately, in their own language or one they understand, of: the right to use their language and to interpretation; the reasons for the arrest; that they need not say anything and that silence will not be held against them; the right to free legal aid under that law; the right to a lawyer of their choice; the right to have a person of their choice and their state's consular representative notified; and the right to medical assistance (ZKP Art. 5(1)). They must also be handed, without delay, a written notice of rights that adds the right to inspect the file, the maximum length of police custody and of prosecutor's custody, and the right to appeal a custody decision (Art. 5(3)); they may keep it throughout (Art. 5(4)). Its content is set by the Ministry of Justice's rulebook, Službeni list CG 135/2026, in force since 17 September 2026. If the notice is not available in their language, they are told orally and given the written version later (Art. 5(6)).

Interpretation. From first contact the authorities must establish whether the person speaks the language of the proceedings; a decision that no interpreter is needed can be appealed (ZKP Art. 8(2)). Interpretation covers every interview, the decisions on deprivation of liberty, the indictment and the judgment (Art. 8(3)–(4)), and conversations with defence counsel where needed to prepare the defence (Art. 8(5)). A complaint about the quality of interpretation goes to the prosecutor or judge, who appoints another interpreter if it is well founded (Art. 8(10)).

The clocks.

Counsel. A suspect must have counsel once the prosecutor orders custody (ZKP Art. 69(6)), while in detention (Art. 69(3)), and from the start of plea negotiations (Art. 69(7)). Before deciding on detention the court hears the defendant in the presence of counsel (Art. 176(2)). Detention requires a reasonable suspicion plus one of the statutory grounds: flight risk, risk to evidence or witnesses, risk of reoffending, or, for offences carrying ten years or more, a particularly serious offence (Art. 175(1)).

Complaints. During the investigation a suspect who considers a right has been denied can file a written complaint with the prosecutor, who decides within three days; an objection then goes to the investigating judge, who decides within three days (ZKP Art. 261(10)–(13)). Where ill-treatment is suspected, the prosecutor and the investigating judge must order a medical examination (Art. 268(7)–(8)).

Consular contact. The right to have one's consulate notified is not new; it was already in the earlier text of Article 5. For Turkish citizens the competent mission is Türkiye's embassy in Podgorica. A detailed note on the 2026 amendment is at arrested in Montenegro: your rights.

Road traffic. Since 22 September 2026, endangering road traffic under Article 339(1) requires serious (not light) bodily injury or property damage over EUR 5,000 (previously EUR 3,000), with up to three years; Article 348(1) carries one to eight years where the result is property damage over EUR 40,000 or serious bodily injury, and Article 348(2) two to twelve years where someone dies. For a visiting driver, an accident with injury moves the matter from a misdemeanour to these articles.

4. When you are the victim

A foreign victim's file in Montenegro typically concerns property: a forged power of attorney, a sale by someone who was not the owner, a deposit paid against a document that proved nothing. The criminal case and the civil case run on different tracks and need different things from you.

Filing. A criminal complaint is filed with the competent state prosecutor, in writing or orally (ZKP Art. 256(1)). If the prosecutor rejects it, you are notified and may file a complaint with the immediately higher prosecutor's office within eight days of receiving the notice; that office must tell you what it did within 30 days (Art. 271a).

Taking over the prosecution. Where the prosecutor finds no grounds to prosecute, they must tell you within eight days and send you the decision; you may then take over the prosecution within 30 days of receiving that notice, or of the higher office's answer to your complaint (ZKP Art. 59(1), (3)). Since 17 September 2026, if the notice cannot be delivered to your last known address because you did not report a change, it is posted on the prosecutor's notice board and counts as delivered after eight days (Art. 59(5)). A victim living abroad should keep an address for service on file.

Your rights in the case. You may point to facts and propose evidence in the investigation, question the defendant and witnesses at trial, and inspect the file (ZKP Art. 58(1)–(3)). Where the offence carries more than three years and you cannot bear the cost of representation, a representative may be appointed on request (Art. 58(6)).

The money. A property claim can be brought in the criminal case by anyone entitled to bring it in civil proceedings (ZKP Art. 235(1)), and can be withdrawn and taken to the civil court before the trial ends, but not refiled afterwards (Art. 237(1)). The register-side remedies, annulment and deletion of a wrongful entry, belong to the civil track: property scams and your legal recourse and real estate fraud — the criminal layer. Confiscation of the proceeds is a separate regime: confiscation of criminal proceeds under 131/2026.

Three files, and the provision that decides each

The director and the unpaid supplier. A Montenegrin company is running out of money. Its director pays a related company's invoice in full and leaves a long-standing supplier unpaid; six months later the company enters insolvency and the supplier files a criminal complaint. The question is not whether the payment was commercially sensible but whether, when it was made, the director knew the company had become unable to pay: that knowledge is the trigger of Article 275(1). Because insolvency proceedings were opened, the band moves to one to eight years (Art. 275(3)), and the company itself is exposed under ZOPL Article 5 because the payment was made on its behalf. The documents that decide the file are the ones that show what the director knew on the day of payment: management accounts, bank correspondence, board minutes. They exist before any complaint does.

The building that went up before the paperwork. An investor starts works on a holiday villa while the permit file is still pending, on the advice that "everyone does it". The building inspector issues a prohibition decision; the works continue. Under Article 326a that conduct carries six months to five years for the person who started or continued the works, and the contractor's site manager can be in the same file. If the site is then connected to electricity or water, Article 326c reaches whoever connected it or allowed the connection. A prohibition decision is the point at which the risk changes character.

The buyer who paid against a forged power of attorney. A foreign buyer pays a deposit to an agent holding a power of attorney from the "owner". The owner never signed it. The forgery is Article 412, the deception is fraud under Article 244, and above EUR 30,000 the band is two to ten years. For the buyer, the criminal complaint is only half the work: the property claim has to be put into the criminal case or reserved for the civil court (ZKP Arts. 235, 237), the register has to be protected, and the deadline to answer a rejected complaint is eight days from notice (Art. 271a). A buyer abroad who has not left an address for service can lose that deadline without ever seeing the notice (Art. 59(5)).

What to do in the first hours

If you are the person held: ask for the written notice of rights in your language, say that you want a lawyer and an interpreter, and do not answer questions about the facts until counsel is present. Ask that your consulate and a person you name be informed. Note the time you were deprived of liberty; the custody limits in the table above run from it.

If you are the company: do not instruct staff on what to say, do not move or delete documents, and appoint counsel for the company separately from counsel for any individual whose interests may differ. Preserve the compliance file, because ZOPL Article 23(3) is argued from what existed before the offence, not from what is written afterwards.

If you are the victim: file the complaint with documents, not narrative; give an address for service in Montenegro; and diarise eight days from any notice of rejection.

5. Extradition, Interpol and the European arrest warrant

From Montenegro. Since 7 January 2026 extradition is governed by the new Mutual Legal Assistance Act, Službeni list CG 160/2025, which replaced the 2008 act. Extradition requires, among other conditions, that the person is not a Montenegrin citizen, that the offence was not committed in or against Montenegro or its citizen, double criminality and no limitation (Art. 16). The request goes to the Ministry of Justice and on to the investigating judge (Arts. 18–19). Detention for extradition can be ordered before the request arrives; the person is released if the request is not submitted within 18 days, or 40 if the requesting state asks for more time, with one further extension of up to 30 days (Art. 20(2)–(4)). A court panel decides within eight days whether the conditions are met (Art. 21); the person may appeal within three days to the higher court, which decides within eight (Art. 23(2)–(3)); the Minister of Justice then decides whether to allow surrender, and must refuse where the person enjoys international protection in Montenegro or would face persecution (Art. 24). Surrender with the person's consent follows a simplified procedure (Art. 29). Requests may travel through Interpol where urgent (Art. 10).

The European arrest warrant. Montenegro adopted a law on judicial cooperation with EU member states on 16 September 2026, but it applies only from the day of Montenegro's accession to the EU. Until then, a request from an EU state is handled under the Mutual Legal Assistance Act and the extradition treaties.

Between Montenegro and Türkiye. Both are parties to the European Convention on Extradition (CETS 024) and the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters (CETS 030);. On the Turkish side, the extradition procedure is in Act No. 6706 on International Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters.

Interpol. A Red Notice is a request to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, not an arrest warrant; each country applies its own law. A Montenegrin police officer may arrest a person sought by an international warrant, who must be brought to the investigating judge within 24 hours (ZKP Art. 264(5)). Challenges to a notice go to the Commission for the Control of INTERPOL's Files.

6. The Turkish leg

Where a file has a Turkish side, I work it with Turkish-bar colleagues. The points that most often decide the first days there, from the Code of Criminal Procedure (CMK, Act No. 5271) and the Criminal Code (TCK, Act No. 5237):

• Custody. Up to 24 hours from apprehension, plus the travel time to the nearest judge of no more than 12 hours; for offences committed collectively, the prosecutor may extend it in writing by up to three days, one day at a time (CMK Art. 91(1), (3)).
• Counsel. The suspect may meet counsel at any time and in private (CMK Art. 154(1)). For offences against state security, the constitutional order and national defence, espionage, terrorism offences and organised drug trafficking, a judge may restrict that meeting for 24 hours on the prosecutor's request, and no statement may be taken during that period (Art. 154(2)).
• Detention. A detention decision must show, with concrete facts, strong suspicion, a ground for detention, proportionality and why judicial control is insufficient (CMK Art. 101(2)).
• Appeal. An appeal to the regional court is lodged within two weeks of service of the reasoned judgment (CMK Art. 273(1)). Cassation is not available, among other cases, against regional decisions rejecting on the merits an appeal against prison sentences of five years or less (Art. 286(2)(a)).
• Fraud. Basic fraud carries one to five years and a judicial fine (TCK Art. 157); qualified fraud, including through information systems, banks or credit institutions, three to ten years, with a minimum of four years in the cases in Article 158(1)(e), (f), (j), (k) and (l) (Art. 158(1)). Fraud committed to collect a claim arising from a legal relationship carries six months to one year or a judicial fine and is prosecuted on complaint (Art. 159).

A wider note on the Turkish procedure is at criminal defence in Turkey.

How I work, and what I do not do

I am a Turkish-bar lawyer based in Budva, working on Montenegrin files with lawyers registered with the Bar Association of Montenegro (Advokatska komora Crne Gore). In Montenegro the defence in court is conducted by Montenegrin counsel; my role is to read the file in both legal systems, prepare the client and keep the two tracks consistent.

I do not promise outcomes, I do not say a file will be dropped, and I do not handle a matter where the firm already acts for the other side. If you call us from a police station, we will tell you who the duty lawyer can be and what to say and not say before counsel arrives; we will not give you a view on the merits over the phone.

Where to start

If you are an owner or manager and an inspection, a tax audit, a prohibition decision or a frozen payment is already on your desk, send us what the authority has actually given you: the record, the decision, the summons. We will tell you which provision the file has the shape of, whether the company and the individuals need separate counsel, and which deadline runs first.

If someone is in custody now, contact us through the button on this page and tell us where, since when and on what grounds they were told they were held.

Related pages

• Corporate law and advisory — the company structure the criminal file reads against
• Construction advisory — the permit chain behind Article 326a
• Montenegro's 2026 Criminal Code amendment
• Employment-law offences for employers
• All services