Citizens will pay for Kalić's detention

The legal team of the Kalić family from Rožaj asked the state for a settlement in order to compensate Mersudin and Amina for their unjustified stay in custody, but also for years of surveillance measures - daily reports to the police, ban on leaving their residence and confiscation of their passports.

"Vijesti" learned that Kalić's claim for damages was submitted to the Ministry of Justice before the New Year, and according to unofficial information, the people of Rožaj are asking for several hundred thousand euros.

Mersudin Kalić spent two years and nine months in custody, and his daughter-in-law six months, while they were also obliged to report to the police for years.

The deadline for the Ministry of Justice's decision on whether to agree to a settlement with Kalići expires next month, when it will be known whether there will be payments or whether the legal team will have to file a new claim for damages through the court.

Kalić's lawyer Kasim Dizdarević confirmed to "Vijesta" that a claim for compensation for non-material damages has been filed.

"It is true that a lawsuit has been filed and now we are waiting for a decision on whether the Ministry of Justice agrees to an out-of-court settlement. The deadline for their declaration is three months from the day when the claim was submitted. We expect that they will respond quickly," said Dizdarević.

"Vijesti" also asked the Ministry of Justice if they had made a decision on Kalić's claim, but until yesterday they did not answer what the figure was that the people of Rožaj are asking for in the settlement.

The lawyer did not want to disclose the figure either, explaining that he will do so only when the Ministry of Justice answers whether they agree to the settlement.

"Only when they answer whether they agree to a settlement, we can talk about the figure that is requested due to the unfounded detention, but also the imposed surveillance measures for Amina and Mersudin Kalić. I have to announce that the offer is more than correct", explained Dizdarević.

Mersudin and Amina Kalić were arrested on July 27, 2011 on suspicion that from 2005 to June 2011 they conspired to conceal, through banking and financial operations, the way of obtaining money, which they knew was earned from drug deals in Germany.

At that time, Amina's husband Safet Kalić escaped arrest, who hid for years until he was arrested in Vienna at the end of October 2014, and a little later extradited to Germany, which was looking for him for heroin smuggling in 1994.

Safet Kalić's lawyers say they expect him to come home soon...

The indictment of Deputy Special Prosecutor Hasan Lukač in Bijelo Polje accused the Kalićes of having "laundered" more than eight million euros earned from drug deals in Montenegro, so that in the end, in the year-long process, that figure was reduced by more than one million euros.

On July 21, 2016, Kalići was legally acquitted of charges of money laundering, thus confirming the judgment of the High Court in Bijelo Polje from December 2015.

The appeal against the acquittal verdict of the High Court in Bijelo Polje was filed by the Special Prosecutor's Office due to a significant violation of the criminal procedure and wrongly and incompletely established factual situation.

The prosecutor noted that the expert in the proceedings did not establish the origin of more than three million from the accounting documentation, but the Court of Appeal decided that everything was done according to the law.

The family is still considering whether to sue the state over the property's deterioration

Kalić's lawyers are still waiting for the "green light" from the Rožaj family as to whether they will sue the state for the partial deterioration of property worth 22 million, which was temporarily confiscated during the five-year criminal proceedings.

"After the property was returned to the Kalić family - we took everything to the commission and listed it. That part has been done on our side, but we are waiting for the family's decision on whether they will file a lawsuit for damages on that basis", lawyer Dragoljub Đukanović confirmed to "Vijesta".

In the middle of November last year, property worth millions from Rožaj, Podgorica, Sveti Stefan was returned to Kalići, which was temporarily confiscated by a court decision on August 4, 2011.

After the return, the legal representatives, as well as the representatives of the Kalić companies, had numerous objections to the condition of the property that the state had taken care of for years, as well as the fact that they could not manage it and thus make a profit.

Up to 2 thousand euros for a month of unfounded detention

The Ministry of Justice created three categories for payment, so a month of detention can cost from 600 to 2.000 euros.

For a month of unjustified detention, the figures are from 1.800 euros to 2.000 euros for people who have not been convicted before. For those who have been convicted before, the amount is around 1.800 euros, and for returnees, the amount is 600 to 1.500 euros.

The work team of the Ministry of Justice is mindful that most lawsuits end up in court, where much larger amounts are paid for mistakes, so they agree to settle in the range of 3.000 to 4.000 euros for a month of unfounded deprivation of liberty.