Nikola Bušković, Dragoslav Perazić, Ivan Siništaj, Borko Čađenović, Branko Bašović and Simo Đurović were convicted for lying before the court, when they testified that Ivan Bušković, convicted of attacking the journalist Olivera Lakić, played football with them, at a time when Lakić was attacked.
The brother of the convicted Bušković, because he was the only one with no previous convictions, received a suspended sentence, while the others received a three-month prison sentence.
This is the first-instance decision of Podgorica Basic Court judge Nada Rabrenović, in the proceedings against Bušković's brother and five of his friends, who were accused of providing him with false alibi for the time he beat journalist Olivera Lakić.
The criminal offense of giving a false statement is punishable by three months to five years in prison.
The judge, explaining the verdict, stated that the final court verdict established that Ivan Bušković was in the Bulevar Svetog Petar Cetinjski, at the time of the attack on Lakić, and not in Manastirska Street, where the defendants claimed that he played football with them.
She added that the eight witnesses heard in this proceeding, who are friends of the defendants, also claimed that Bušković played football with them all the time, even though they were warned that giving false testimony is a criminal offense.
"They couldn't remember the details of the match, who they came with, how they were dressed, who they left with...", said Rabrenović.
Although Bušković was legally convicted for the attack on Lakić, the motive was never established. In the final verdict, judge Željka Jovović stated that his fellow "football players" had falsely testified, so the prosecution filed an indictment against them.
Since February 2011, Lakić has been the target of harassment and threats, and later of physical attack.
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