The Basic Court in Ulcinj has ordered 30 days of custody for a 46-year-old Macedonian citizen, suspected of killing and torturing an animal and destroying its habitat. Under Montenegro's criminal code, that offence carries a fine or up to two years in prison.

According to Montenegrin police, on 24 July she deliberately ran over a Šarplaninac dog with a Mercedes and then tried to leave the country. She was stopped at the Sukobin - Murićani border crossing and detained.

The defence tells an entirely different story. In their version, that same Šarplaninac had earlier got into their apartment, killed their Shih Tzu and then attacked her and her underage brother, which is why the car was used to push the animal away rather than to kill it. A hotel worker, the family says, helped take the injured pet to a vet, but it did not survive.

This is where the second half of the case begins - the half that has nothing to do with any court. Footage of the incident ended up on social media and the crowd delivered its verdict before the prosecutor had finished collecting evidence. Calls for personal revenge, identification, personal data passed around. Within hours the entire country knew the woman's name.

That people want animals protected is a good thing. That the same crowd demanding punishment for animal cruelty organises a manhunt against a person whose account of events has not yet been examined - that is something else. The prosecution still has to gather the video, the statements and the forensic findings.

Montenegro does not take these offences lightly and that deserves credit - the law exists there and it is applied. The question is whether the verdict will be handed down in a courtroom or has already been handed down on screens. Because if every case gets settled on the internet first, the court becomes a formality - and that is an expensive habit for any country in the Balkans.