Four years since the wounding of Olivera Lakić: It is not known who ordered it and what happened to the group that is allegedly suspected

Even after four years since the wounding of journalist Olivera Lakić, it is not known who ordered it or what happened to the group, which, according to the files of the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT), is allegedly suspected of being involved in the organization of the violent attack on the front door of the building where Lakić lives , on May 8, 2018 in Podgorica.

Although the prosecutor's investigation has been going on for more than three years, and the legal deadline for filing an indictment is half a year, the public still does not know whether an indictment was ever written and how the files of the voluminous case justify breaking all the deadlines for submitting the indictment to the High Court in Podgorica.

Nine months after his injury, on February 19, 2019, and just two days before the arrival of the then European Union (EU) Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn in Podgorica, a joint conference of the Police Administration (UP) and the Prosecutor's Office was organized, when it was announced that organizer Filip Bešović allegedly followed but also shot journalist Lakić.

A day later, the Higher Prosecutor's Office submitted a request to conduct an investigation against - Filip Bešović, Mari Milošević, Filip Knežević, Goran Rakočević, Dejan Vukašinović, Luka Bulatović, Mijail Stojanović, Marinko Rajković and Sanja Božović, but in no part was it explicitly stated that the organizer of the association shot the journalist.

At the end of 2020, the SDT announced that a group of defendants in Spuša prison arranged the murder of Olivera Lakić.

In addition to the Sky correspondence, the prosecution was also helped by the testimony of the associate witness Bajram Pista, who allegedly told the prosecutors that the suspects for the journalist's murder offered him 200.000 euros.

According to his testimony, Vesko Bubanja told him in the Spuška prison that Lakić "saw something she shouldn't have", which is why he started to follow where she moves, take photos and send all the data to Knežević. Allegedly, he also told him that Bešović was the chauffeur when they followed Olivera Lakić and that he informed Filip Knežević the time and moment when she was alone and that he could approach her without hindrance...

"Their motive, according to the prosecution's evidence, is to prevent the journalist from investigating criminal organizations on the territory of Montenegro and their connections with criminal groups from the region," said special prosecutor Saša Čađenović in December 2020.

In December of last year, by order of the SDT, they arrested Darko Lalović, the former bodyguard of the former President of the Supreme Court, Vesna Medenica, who is now under arrest, as well as Nikšić's Branislav Karadžić, whom the SDT accuses of having formed a criminal organization, close to the Kavačac clan, which organized wounding of journalist Lakić.

Journalist Lakić, editor-in-chief of the Libertass portal, published at the beginning of April this year a series of texts based on Europol documentation, which was collected by monitoring the SKY application, which for years was mainly used by criminals and collaborators in state services, which led to the suspicion that the son of the former president of the Supreme court - Miloš Medenica was involved in cigarette smuggling and drug trafficking...

The portal published dozens of messages between Medenica and the police officer Lalović, who was his mother's bodyguard, and in one part the son of the head of the judiciary told a UP official that "his mother is aware of his illegal work, and that he can expect protection from her."

The published Europol documentation was followed by the arrest of Vesna Medenica and at least 12 other people on suspicion of being part of a criminal group, while the suspect Miloš Medenica is still unavailable to the prosecution because he is allegedly being treated in Belgrade.

Olivera Lakić has been living and working under police protection for years, and she received increased surveillance by the UP on Friday based on an assessment by the UP after Libertass published new Europol documents, which state SKY communication, contacts, jobs of UP officers Petar Lazović, Ljub Milović with to the members of the "Kavaka" group Radoj Zvicer, Veljko Belivuk, Marko Miljković...

In the Europol documentation, it is stated that, allegedly, Lazović and Milović are members of that group, involved in dealings with the delivery of loads of cocaine from Ecuador, the smuggling of weapons, cigarettes...

In addition to the two, Libertass published the allegations of the European police organization, that numerous police officers were involved in dealings with criminals...

The Montenegrin government has been repeatedly criticized from many international and domestic addresses because the investigations into the numerous attacks, and then the attempted murder of the journalist Lakić, did not lead to the attackers, the masterminds...

Three months after the journalist was wounded in May 2018, Veselin Veljović was re-appointed to the position of police director, whose head of security, Milenko Rabrenović, was put on trial for threatening the daughters of Olivera Lakić in February 2011, following a series of articles in "Vijesti" about illegal production and the smuggling of cigarettes from the Mojkovac factory "Tara".

That, at least a controversial subject, pointed to the weakness of the system.

During the proceedings before the Basic Court in Podgorica, it was established that Rabrenović's son and two other members of his family used the phone number, which during January and February 2011 "traveled" with Veljović's driver, and that the same card was used in the device from which Lakić's daughter was threatened.

All this was not disputed by the judge Larisa Mijušković Stamatović, who acquitted Rabrenović due to lack of evidence.

Although it was determined that only he and two members of his family could have sent those threats, the court acquitted him, referring to the changed opinion of expert witness Predrag Boljević.

In his written opinion, the expert first claimed that Rabrenović was the user of the phone from which the threat was made, only to change his opinion at the main trial, claiming that he had previously "explained too harshly"...

The trial of Rabrenović was also marked by the unusual interest of the president of the Supreme Court, Vesna Medenica, and the then head of the criminal police in Budva, Siniša Stojković, in the case on the part of the competent prosecutors.

The Prosecutor's Office decided to prosecute Stojković for the criminal offense of unlawful influence, but the trial never took place.

After the indictment against Rabrenović, Lakićeva labeled Veljović as the one who ordered the threats, which he denied in court.

Due to the threats, another court case was conducted - Milan Grgurević from Danilovgrad falsely reported that he was allegedly the person who threatened, and that he threw the phones at Zeta.

Due to the false reporting, the judge of the Basic Court in Podgorica, Željka Jovović, sentenced him twice to one year in prison, but later he was acquitted by judge Goran Đuković.

The "Vijesti" journalist became a frequent target of attacks after she investigated and wrote in early 2011 whether fake brands of cigarettes were produced, stored and smuggled in the "Tara" factory, as well as in the warehouse in Dona Gorica.

She wrote in the texts that people from the police and ANB are involved in that smuggling business.

The first threats came at the beginning of 2011 from Slavko Musić, an employee of the Mojkovac factory, who was later sentenced to four months in prison for endangering security.

Ivan Bušković also received a low prison sentence, who was sentenced to nine months in prison, because on March 7, 2012, he hit the journalist Lakić who was returning home from work in front of the building. The mastermind behind that attack was never discovered.

In 2019, journalist Olivera Lakić was also the winner of the International Women of Courage Award, which is awarded by the US State Department. The award is given to women from all over the world who, despite great personal risk, are an example of outstanding courage and leadership in the promotion of human rights, women's equality and social progress.