The United States of America (USA) will not risk that its citizens, who worked in the intelligence services there, will be in the custody of foreign countries - that is why the former agent of the American secret service (CIA) Joseph Assad, whom the Special State Prosecutor's Office ( SDT) marked him as the leader of an organized criminal group.
This is claimed by a "News" source from the US State Department, who previously held responsible positions in the US security sector.
He states that, due to such a policy, the USA will also prevent his extradition to Montenegro or any arrest by other countries.
So last year, with the intervention of the US Embassy, Assad was released from custody in Abu Dhabi, after he was arrested at the airport on a Montenegrin warrant for attempted terrorism in 2016, popularly known as the "coup d'état".
"The USA cannot allow its security to be jeopardized in any way, and one of the ways is if the former intelligence officer goes somewhere to talk about the secret affairs of the service in which he participated", claims the "Vijesti" source. Former CIA agent John Joseph di Paolo and former agents of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) - Ladislao Carballos, Scott Rivas and Jorge Mijar - will be treated in the same way.
It is, he claims, about agents who were "rushed" from their services (CIA and FBI).
"For security reasons, intelligence agencies do not fire their people, as companies and other sectors do, but they 'retire' them," explained the source of "Vijesti".
Such people usually use the connections they made in the service to pursue jobs in the security sector.
Not infrequently, they break away to complete dirty work for foreign services or criminal groups, and the CIA or FBI background significantly benefits them in these cases.
In these cases, US services sanction former agents in accordance with their own rules.
They are still investigating Assad's group
Since 2016, the Montenegrin Special Prosecutor's Office has been investigating Asad's group, which on October 16 was allegedly in charge of creating an evacuation plan, designing the defense of command posts after the planned showdown in front of the parliament building, and installing devices that prevent the monitoring of mobile phone signals.
In the indictment against 14 people, it is claimed that Assad, on behalf of the Democratic Front (DF), sought help from the American private security agency "Patriot Defense Group" for counterintelligence surveillance and the extraction of personnel after a terrorist attack during the election.
This was partially confirmed at the trial by Brian Scott, the head of that agency.
Assad, however, has not yet been charged with attempted terrorism.
He previously called on the United States of America to reject Montenegro's request for his extradition.
Asad states that he was in Montenegro to personally advise the Israeli political consultant Aron Shaviv, who was in charge of the election campaign of the Democratic Front (DF), whose leaders Andrija Mandić and Milan Knežević were convicted in the first instance for attempted terrorism.
The SDT recently announced that the indictment for "coup d'état" was extended to include Shaviv, who allegedly accepted membership in a criminal group and financed activities intended to carry out the crime. Shaviv and Asad are the owners of a foreign company which, as they suspect in SDT, financed the election campaign of DF with Russian money.
About 2016 euros were paid from the account of that company to Asad's company "Peregrine Consulting Group", whose headquarters are in Abu Dhabi, in October 76.000. Asad was staying in Montenegro at that time.
The director of the company is Assad's wife, also a former CIA agent.
Asad left Montenegro for the last time on the night of October 16, after the SDT arrested a group of Serbian citizens that morning (on election day), convicted in the first instance of attempted terrorism.
The defendants have not yet received a verdict
The trial for attempted terrorism on the day of parliamentary elections on October 16, 2016, in the Podgorica High Court, began on September 6, 2017, and ended on March 28, 2019. The first-instance guilty verdict was pronounced on May 9.
The verdict of the panel of judges of the High Court, headed by judge Suzana Mugoša, has not yet been delivered. Mugoša recently asked the president of the High Court for more time to write the verdict due to the volume of evidence.
The indictment was brought against Russians Eduard Šišmakov and Vladimir Popov, opposition politicians Mandić and Knežević, then Bratislava Dikić, Predrag Bogićević, Nemanja Ristić, Miloš Jovanović, Srboljub Đorđević, Kristina Hristić, Branka Milić, Milan Dušić, Dragan Maksić and Mihail Čađenović.
According to the indictment of special prosecutor Saša Čađenović, Šišmakov and Popov committed the criminal offense of attempted terrorism, and Dikić, Bogićević and Ristić committed the criminal offense of attempted terrorism by aiding and abetting. They and all the others are accused of creating a criminal organization.
The indictment states that the two Russians organized a criminal group and recruited other members for the purpose of gaining illegal profits and power, violently overthrowing the government and declaring the election victory of the Democratic Front and preventing Montenegro from joining the NATO alliance.
Andrija Mandić, according to the indictment, acted on the instructions of the organizers of the criminal organization and recruited others who would participate in the preparation and execution of criminal acts. It says that he conveyed the instructions and orders of the organizers of the criminal organization to its members and ensured the use of official vehicles to transport the members of the criminal organization to meetings...
Milan Knežević, according to that act, also acted according to the instructions and orders of the organizers, transmitted messages and instructions between members of the criminal organization and was in charge of the realization of protests in front of the Parliament of Montenegro, which will be used for the realization of the criminal plan and forcible entry into that institution. ..
The extradition proceedings for Frigo have not been completed?
In addition to the Americans, Assad's group consisted of the Israeli Yoram Frig, an expert in anti-electronic activity Mateos Konstantinou, and two Iraqis, Runi Koshab Yukan Al Belati and Reni Koshab Yukan Al Belati.
Frig was recently arrested in Cyprus on a Montenegrin warrant, and the procedure for his extradition to Montenegro is still ongoing before the competent court of that country.
"There have already been several hearings for his extradition, and the next one is scheduled for September," claims the "Vijesti" source. Although he is not in custody, Frigg is still in Cyprus, and due to the ongoing proceedings, his passport was confiscated and he had to post a certain amount of bail.
And "Fox News" defended Assad
That the United States of America will not easily hand over its citizen to the Montenegrin investigative authorities was also shown by the way Assad was announced by Fox News, close to US President Donald Trump.
"It is about a man who was on the front line in the fight against terrorism for years, and now Montenegro is looking for him on the charge of conspiring against the dictator of that country."
In the announcement, they further said that Montenegro's request leaves the Trump administration with two choices: to protect a man who "risked his life countless times for his country and angered a NATO ally" or to "extradite a man who knows the most sensitive secrets" to Montenegro, which, they say, has desperate results in respect of human rights.
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