Three months after appearing on the Belgrade television Happy and publishing secret recordings in which he also talks about the police-prosecutor torture he survived in Podgorica, Saša Sinđelić fled from Serbia to Montenegro and requested political asylum.
An accomplice witness in the criminal proceedings for attempted terrorism illegally crossed the border between the two countries on Monday.
This information was announced yesterday by the chief special prosecutor Milivoje Katnić.
At the press conference, he said that Sinđelić made a statement in the Security Department of Rožaje requesting political asylum, "due to the serious persecution of certain structures in Serbia."
"Unfortunately, it happened that the cooperating witness, which is unheard of in the world, escaped to Montenegro through the paths and past the border crossings... He must flee, solely because he testified in Montenegro," concluded Katnić.
He added that the court found that his statement in the proceedings before the High Court was credible.
He also stated that he does not know the procedure for obtaining asylum in Montenegro.
Katnić confirmed that Sinđelić asked to speak with the representatives of the Special Prosecutor's Office.
"We will see if it is a criminal offense committed by certain persons and then act in accordance with the regulations," said Katnić.
The prosecutor said the day before, during the parliamentary polemic with the deputies of the Democratic Front, that "today, for the first time in Montenegro, a Serb defected from a Serb".
"That's this Sinđelić. He defected under cursum. Here it is in Montenegro. I didn't chase him. You are prosecuting him and there is evidence for it. Please stop," said Katnić, addressing the DF MPs.
Thanks mostly to his testimony, the accused in the "coup d'état" case were sentenced to prison terms in the first instance, and among them the opposition MPs Milan Knežević and Andrija Mandić - to five years in prison each.
Recordings
In the videos released in mid-March, Sinđelić tells an interviewer at a bar table that he would have been imprisoned for life in Montenegro if he had insisted on the truth during the investigation and later at the trial in the case of the alleged attempted terrorism on the day of the 2016 parliamentary elections in Podgorica.
He then said that he managed to escape from Montenegro with his family.
Stated that he told Montenegrin special prosecutors under pressure what they wanted to hear just to escape.
A cooperating witness in the court process called "coup d'état" then explained that he was forced to do as the prosecutors told him, because they were not interested in the truth.
"They come every day, pick you up from solitary confinement, tie you up as much as possible, beat you on the van, stuff your head down and that nonsense... You know, classic experiences. Then they throw you there...", says Sinđelić.
The cooperating witness then explains how and why he agreed to the game between the prosecution and the police:
"And then you want to make a statement and then when you say what you want to say, they take you back.
Understand? And they spin you around. It's literally a kind of pressure. It's not, but it is. So now you have no right... Until you confirm their 'we know', there is nothing. There is no way to prove the truth. Then you do like this, you say what they want, so that you can get out, so that you can hide, so that later you can gain the conditions to tell the truth", said Sinđelić.
He says that at one point he relented and agreed to confirm the prosecution's story.
The interlocutor asks him why he did it if it is not true, and Sinđelić answers:
“Well you have to man, they won't let you go. So it's literally forced on you. If I push this mine, they will not let me out to tell the truth, but will keep me locked up there for life".
He said that he is thinking of moving the family to another address and going on a show and telling everything about the "coup d'etat" case. He also stated that he is aware that this would mean the end of him: "At that moment, they will immediately issue a warrant for me, and then it could literally happen that Serbia delivers me there and I shut it down... At least people will know what happened... Batice, they would send who knows who to cause me problems. I'm waiting for that trial to end".
At Marić's
On March 11, a few days before the closing arguments at the trial in Podgorica, he was a guest on the show of Serbian journalist Milomir Marić, who said that he had "earned" the status of an accomplice witness in the coup d'état case by telling untruths, but the court said the next day that they were relevant to them. only evidence from the case file.
On "happy" television, he said what he said at the beginning of the "coup d'état" case, first in front of Serbian intelligence and then in front of the Montenegrin judiciary - that he agreed to the request of two Russians to organize non-violent support for the Serbs from Montenegro and that it was all about informed the officials of the Serbian Security Information Agency (BIA)... After he was arrested in Montenegro, he changed his statement and said that he was hired by Russian nationalists to find people who would violently break into the Parliament of Montenegro on the day of the parliamentary elections in 2016 , to declare the victory of the opposition and arrest, that is, kill the then Prime Minister Milo Đukanović.
After denying in the show everything he said in the Podgorica High Court, when asked by the presenter why he changed the story and why he spoke differently in Montenegro, he replied: "If I had said anything else, I would not have made it to the show." "After this show, I will become a terrorist again... I will be put on a warrant again... I hope that (arrests) will not happen during the show, although I would not be surprised... I am aware that after this show I can go only to the forest to cut wood, but they will probably go there to find me," he said then.
Asylum - if persecuted for political opinion
According to the Law on International and Temporary Protection of Foreigners, asylum is granted to a person who has a well-founded fear of persecution in his country because of his race, religion, nationality, belonging to a certain social group or political opinion.
Sinđelić can ask for political asylum if he is being persecuted because of his political opinion, attitude or beliefs about things related to possible perpetrators of persecution - state bodies, parties, international organizations.
The Ministry of Interior did not answer whether and what they decided on his request.
He will not be held responsible for crossing the border illegally
The Law on International and Temporary Protection of Foreigners also provides that those who came to Montenegro directly from the area where they fear persecution will not be punished for illegally crossing the border:
"If he expresses his intention to submit an application for international protection without delay and justifies the reasons for illegal entry or stay in Montenegro".
The police administration did not answer when, how and where Saša Sinđelić entered Montenegro, but also why Rozaj police officers did not arrest him when he entered the Security Department to seek asylum.
DF: It has been there for 10 days and they are preparing it for the press
The allegations about the spectacular escape of Sinđelić from Serbia to Montenegro are absolutely incorrect, because he has been in Podgorica for almost ten days, where Katnić has been preparing him for a press conference.
This was announced by DF yesterday.
"The truth is the following, since Serbia does not want to extradite its citizen to Croatia for the murder for which he was sentenced to 21 years in prison, it tacitly allowed him to move to Montenegro, because it is more than obvious that a man with his mental illness diagnosis is no longer for anyone. needed, except for Milivoj Katnić. And since the spokeswoman of the High Court, Aida Muzurović, announced that Saša Sinđelić will be ordered into extradition custody on the basis of a red Interpol warrant as soon as he is available to the Montenegrin judicial authorities, we expect a clear statement from the President of the High Court as to whether this will happen."
MUP of Serbia: No one threatened Sinđelić in our country
The Serbian MUP said that it was a fabrication that someone had threatened Sindjelic:
"That person is not politically active in Serbia, so he cannot be politically persecuted. Two people who were recently expelled from Serbia recently tried to help him transfer to Montenegro. It is obvious that some activities are being planned with the mentioned person, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia has nothing to do with it," announced the portal Borba, referring to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia.
Bonus video:
