Back in October last year, Montenegrin investigators received messages from EUROPOL sent to the arrested police officer through the encrypted Sky ECC application. Darko Lalović sent Milos Medenica, the son of the long-time president of the Supreme Court Vesne Medenica.
This was announced yesterday by the leader of the Democratic People's Party Milan Knezevic who accused the Montenegrin institutions of having since then done everything to protect Miloš Medenica and his mother Vesna Medenica from criminal prosecution through abuse of their official position.
"Vijesti" announced at the end of October 2021 that international services from the European Union delivered to the Montenegrin authorities a new round of messages from the encrypted Sky ECC application, which, according to the same source, includes communication between officers of the Police Directorate and criminals, as well as communication between officials of the judicial authorities with people on the other side of the law.
Yesterday, as evidence for his accusations, Knežević read part of the decision by which the Supreme Court on March 14 extended the custody of Lalović and Branislav Karadžić.
The criminal organization to which, according to the suspicions of the Special State Prosecutor's Office, the two men belong, was formed due to the commission of an unlimited number of murders, serious bodily injuries, unauthorized production, possession and distribution of drugs and other criminal acts.
According to the decision of the Supreme Court, the criminal organization, of which Lalović is a member, was formed by a person unknown to the investigators, and the members were identified as Goran Rakočević, Filip Bešović, Filip Knezevic, Vesko Bubanja, Luka Bulatović i Dejan Vukašinović.
Knežević said yesterday that the Montenegrin services have been able to communicate with Medenica and Lalović since October, but that they reacted too late, allowing Vesena Medenica's son to leave Montenegro.
He also explained what he based his suspicions on:
"The criminal police sector and the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT), and the Special Police Department (SPO) in October 2021 received this content of the communication between police officer Lalović and Miloš Medenica, and only in December, almost two months later, did they arrest Darko Lalović and a certain Božidar Karadžić, and they don't even take statements from either Miloš Medenica or Vesna Medenica, either as a citizen or as a witness. Because someone in SDT and UP protected them and tried to cover up evidence of participation in organized criminal activities".
He said that it is quite certain that he is also the coordinator of all security services Dritan Abazovic had to have that correspondence in October last year.
"That's why I'm asking Abazovć what he did and what he will do regarding these abuses in UP, SDT, and obviously also parts of the judiciary," Knežević said.
He read a part of the decision of the Supreme Court from March 14, by which Lalović and Karadzic's detention was extended for three months.
"Thus, the Supreme Court in March, passing a decision on custody, has communication between Darko Lalović and Miloš Medenica. That was all in the order on conducting the investigation and the files of the case formed in December 2021, with a delay of almost two months, because since October this communication was in both the police department and the SDT, and I assume it was also on the table. Dritan Abazović", Knežević said.
WHY DIDN'T BOŠKOVIĆ BRING MEDENICE AWAY?
He asked the acting special prosecutor Nataša Bošković, why didn't she take Medenice into custody and issue an order to expand the investigation against them:
"Because even the judges of the Supreme Court had an insight into the communication, which was seen by the entire Montenegrin public, that the son of Vesna Medenica, Miloš, was taking pictures with vending machines, ordering drugs and actively talking about his participation in cigarette smuggling and smuggling clans, the Grand Clan and the Mojkovac Clan . This clearly shows that someone from SDT and UP enabled Miloš Medenica, before the case against him was formed, and with an unacceptable delay, to leave Montenegro, to avoid criminal prosecution, and apparently also guaranteed his mother that she will be exempt from criminal prosecution".
Repeating that someone in the competent institutions protected Miloš and Vesna Medenica, he said that it is quite certain that this criminal group is accused of informing members of the clans about whether and when indictments would be brought, promising to speed up parole procedures and reporting what decisions had been made .
LINK WITH COURTS AND PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE
"How could they know in that period, and before that, when the indictment would be brought, if they did not have links with the courts and the prosecutor's office, how could they know who would receive parole, and what decision would be made, if they did not coordinated, and we see that Miloš Medenica somewhere clearly alludes to his mother, how she did to some people from certain clans? The key question here is - who allowed Miloš Medenica to leave Montenegro unhindered, without a hearing, without an order to expand the investigation, and who allowed Vesna Medenica to be protected since October, when this communication was delivered to the competent institutions," Knežević said. .
He said that there is no doubt that the Montenegrin judiciary and UP are corrupted by corruption and ties to organized criminal groups, and that without a clear strategy that includes the fight against organized crime in the institutions themselves, we will face such cases.
The Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) is investigating whether Miloš Medenica, the son of the former president of the Supreme Court, Vesna Medenica, committed any criminal offense under their jurisdiction.
Portal Libertas has published transcripts about the alleged criminal activities of Miloš Medenica in the past few days.
The leader of the Democratic People's Party and the president of the Parliamentary Committee for Security and Defense, Milan Knežević, said that the key question is - who allowed Medenica to leave the country without a hearing, and protected his mother since October, when communication was available to the competent authorities
Did Katnić know all this?
Knežević asked former chief special prosecutor Milivoj Katnić "if he knew about all this".
"Because at a press conference with Dritan Abazović, he just spoke about certain segments concerning this documentation that was delivered through EUROPOL," he said.
He added that he and Andrija Mandić would have been arrested if they had received a "smiley" from Russia from a certain number.
He also said that it is obvious that part of the security sector is connected to criminal groups.
"They are silent because of ignorance or complicity"
Yesterday, Milan Knežević called on the Chief Special Prosecutor (GST) Vladimir Novović, the Police Directorate and Dritan Abazović to launch an investigation and explain who was protecting Miloš and Vesna Medenica.
"It is not a problem to just launch an investigation and that someone be disciplinary, from the prosecutors, judges and police officers, but it is necessary that they be arrested and prosecuted, these are not minor omissions," Knežević said.
The President of the Parliamentary Committee for Security and Defense pointed out that it is necessary for those who did this to be arrested and prosecuted.
Asked to comment on the fact that neither Abazović, UP Director Zoran Brđanin, nor Interior Minister Sergej Sekulović spoke about the case, Knežević said that their silence speaks of ignorance or involvement.
"Without an independent investigation, we can hardly determine who is completely involved, and who has no idea what it is about, and I wouldn't really say that they are so unknown neither in the prosecution, nor in the police, nor in the government itself, i.e. in the security sector," he said.
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