Another eight witnesses, who lied that they played football with Ivan Bušković, on the night when, five years ago, the journalist "Vijesti" Olivera Lakić was attacked, were convicted yesterday in the Basic Court in Podgorica.
Savo Bušković, Borko Vukčević and Ivan Popadić were each sentenced to three months in prison, while Aleksandar Bušković, Nikola Šofranac, Miloš Đonović, Miroslav Bogojević and Drago Šuškavčević received suspended sentences for giving a false statement.
That is the first-instance verdict of Judge Rado Ćetković.
For that crime, a prison sentence of three months to five years is threatened.
The defendants still claim that Ivan Bušković was playing football with them on the night when the journalist was attacked. However, explaining the verdict, the judge determined that they were not telling the truth, because, among other things, the final verdict had already established that Bušković was not in Manastirska Street, where they played football, but in Bulevar Svetog Petar Cetinjski, where attacked Lakić.
Prosecutor Vukas Radonjić, in his closing remarks, asked for prison sentences for all the accused. He said that it was established that they acted with direct intention in order to provide an alibi, and that it is a criminal act against the judiciary, which undermines the authority and reputation of the court. The judge, however, sentenced the five defendants to suspended sentences of three months with a two-year probationary period, stating that he appreciated the fact that they had not been convicted before as extenuating circumstances.
Eight of them were witnesses in the case against Nikola Bušković, Dragoslav Perazić, Ivan Siništaj, Borko Čađenović, Branko Bašović and Simo Đurović, who were convicted by the final judgment for giving a false alibi to Ivan Bušković.
In that proceeding, Judge Nada Rabrenović also sentenced the five defendants to three months in prison each, while Nikola Bušković was the only one who received a suspended sentence due to his previous lack of conviction. Relatives and friends of Ivan Bušković all the time claim that they remember very well that on March 7, 2012, they played football in Zabjelo from nine to ten, but they could not remember almost any other details from that night.
The "Vijesti" journalist was attacked in front of the entrance of the building where she lives around 10:2011 in the evening, when she was returning from the newsroom. Although Judge Željka Jovović sentenced Ivan Bušković to nine months in prison for the attack on Lakić, his sentence was reduced by a quarter under the Amnesty Law, and he was also given a prison term, according to which his prison term was reduced by an additional XNUMX days. The motive, as well as those who ordered the attack, have never been determined. Since February XNUMX, Lakić has been the target of harassment and threats, and later of physical attack, which followed a series of texts about the tobacco factory in Mojkovac.
The proceedings against Veselin Veljović are still under investigation
Former police director Veselin Veljović said at the end of September 2013 "that the elders who led the investigation told him that Ivan Bušković was innocent in prison" and that the investigation into the attack on Lakić was "police fraud".
He said this at the trial of his former stepfather and head of his security, police officer Milenko Mića Rabrenović, who was acquitted of threatening Lakić and her family. After that testimony, Lakić filed a complaint against Veljović, and the investigation in that case has not yet been completed. She asks the prosecution to examine the veracity of his claims or, otherwise, determine Veljović's motives for defending Bušković.
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