The beginning of the repeated trial in the case known as the "coup d'état" was held today in the High Court in Podgorica.
The president of the special panel, judge Zoran Radović, and the panel he chairs decided that due to the new factual situation in this case, the special state prosecution has 15 days to submit a new indictment to the court.
Special prosecutor Saša Čađenović said that the indictment was confirmed by the decision of the extrajudicial panel of the High Court.
"The same was decided by the High Court and later, in the appeal procedure, by the Appellate Court. The decision of the Appellate Court of 30/12/2022 clearly states that the case is returned for a retrial, and not for an assessment of the justification and legality of the indictment, which the lawyer states and demands that a new one be written which will be the subject of the assessment. This is not an order of the Appellate Court, nor does the Law recognize that possibility. Likewise, the case was started in the repeated phase of the main trial, where the verdict was canceled in the conviction, so there is an indictment, according to which the court is obliged to act", prosecutor Čađenović pointed out.
Defendant Andrija Mandić's lawyer, lawyer Miroje Jovanović, proposed to the president of the panel, judge Radović, that the indictment be dismissed in the repeated proceedings. He pointed out to the court that the indictment in the repeated proceedings is disputed because of the parts in the indictment that mention criminal offenses for which there is no longer a legal "prosecution" and because Miloš Jovanović is mentioned, whose proceedings are separate from this one.
"In this proceeding, my two defendants do not have a precise and clear indictment, from whom to defend themselves and who claims the accusations. At this stage of the proceeding, there is no other legal remedy that is effective and can be used, except for the request to dismiss the indictment," he emphasized Jovanovic.
He added that the defense's request to dismiss the indictment was due to several circumstances, one of which is that the indictment must be precise and clear.
"In order for the accused, who are innocently accused in this proceeding, to make a statement about the indictment, no matter how politicized it may be, it must be clear and precise. The defendant Miloš Jovanović is mentioned 30 times, the accused cannot answer the court's question about him because the prosecution has abandoned the criminal prosecution of that person. I believe that the accused cannot plead, because it is not known what they are defending themselves from," said lawyer Miroje Jovanović.
Lawyer Jovanović mentioned the ambiguities in the indictment at the postponed hearing that was supposed to be held on May 30 of this year. He cited the fact that Prosecutor Čađenović abandoned the criminal prosecution against Miloš Jovanović, who is mentioned 30 times in this indictment for "coup d'état". After that, the court ruled that the charge against Jovanović, against whom there was a separate case, was dismissed. The verdict became final on October 23, 2019.
"The defendant Miloš Jovanović still figures in the indictment, even though he has been legally acquitted," lawyer Miroje Jovanović said at the time.
In February 2021, the Appellate Court of Montenegro annulled the first-instance verdict that convicted Mandić and Knežević, as well as two Russian citizens, the former commander of the Serbian gendarmerie Bratislav Dikić, because the verdict contained significant violations of the provisions of the criminal procedure.
Mandić and Knežević were then sentenced to five years in prison each, for membership in a criminal organization since February 2016. The goal of the criminal organization, which was created by Russian citizens Eduard Shishmakov and Vladimir Popov, was to, on the day of the parliamentary elections on October 16, 2016, using
of the Democratic Front, clashed with the Montenegrin police and forcibly occupied the Assembly of Montenegro, and to kidnap and kill the then Prime Minister of Montenegro, Milo Đukanović.
For the criminal acts of creating a criminal organization and attempted terrorism, Šišmakov was sentenced to a single sentence of 15 years in prison, and Popov to three years less. The verdict stated that they acted with direct intent. Citizen of Serbia, general and former commander of the gendarmerie, Bratislav Dikić was sentenced to a single sentence of eight years in prison for the crimes of terrorism in an attempt by aiding and abetting a criminal organization.
Predrag Bogićević and Nemanja Ristić were each sentenced to seven years in prison for the same criminal acts. Branka Milić was sentenced to three years in prison, Dragan Maksić to one year and nine months, while Srboljub Đorđević and Milan Dušić were sentenced to one year and six months each. Kristina Hristić was sentenced to one year in prison, suspended for two years if she does not repeat the crime, starting from the day it becomes final.
The continuation of the trial is scheduled for February 20, 2023.
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