Former CIA operative Joseph Asad called on the US to reject Montenegro's request for his extradition after a warrant was issued at the request of the Special Prosecutor's Office, the Guardian writes.
He spoke through his lawyer and said that it was a deception campaign against "a loyal American who had no role in criminal acts or the coup in Montenegro."
Asad states that he was in Montenegro to personally provide security advice to a Western political consultant and points out that the real conspiracy is the prosecution's claim that it is a conspiracy.
"The regime's claims of an attempted coup are undermined by the way they handled the so-called brains of the operation and the evidence. "The person whom the regime labeled as a leader and terrorist was released from custody," Asad points out.
Assad claims that the weapons the conspirators were supposed to use were destroyed by the authorities, that they were mostly hunting rifles, and that the defense was not allowed to examine them.
"When they were asked to show evidence to support the accusations, the regime refused and declared the evidence a state secret," adds Asad.
His lawyer, Vincent Sitro, said that he was not informed about the accusations against Assad, that he was not provided with any documents, and therefore could not comment on the prosecution's statement.
Assad is the director of his Abu Dhabi-based security agency, Peregrine Consultants, which is co-owned by his wife Michelle, a former CIA agent.
In the indictment against 14 people, it is claimed that Assad, on behalf of the Democratic Front, requested help from the American private security agency for counterintelligence surveillance and the extraction of personnel during the election.
Political consultant and creator of the DF campaign, Aaron Shaviv, claims that he asked Assad to do a security assessment for him and that he had nothing to do with the Democratic Front.
Russian citizens Eduard Šišmakov and Vladimir Popov, who are being tried in absentia, as well as Serbian citizens Nemanja Ristic and Predrag Bogićević, are responsible for the criminal offense of attempted terrorism on the day of the parliamentary elections in 2016.
Bratislav Dikić, Democratic Front leaders Milan Knežević and Andrija Mandić and Mandić's driver Mihailo Čađenović are on the dock.
The indictment includes Serbian citizens Kristina Hristić and Branka Milić, as well as their compatriots - Srboljub Đorđević, Dragan Maksić and Milan Dušić.
The proceedings were split against DF translator Anani Nikić.
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