HRA: Continuation of the trial of those accused of torture in the police scheduled for June 7

Action for Human Rights (HRA) announced that the trial of five police inspectors accused of extorting statements from Marko Boljević with severe violence continued before the Basic Court in Podgorica.

"Today, four witnesses testified before the court: the victim Marko Boljević; his father Goran Boljević and police officers NP and V.P, who on May 25, 2020 handed M. Boljević over to the officers of CB Podgorica in the town of Lapčići, when according to news from the indictment started the torture," the statement of the Action for Human Rights states.

Action for Human Rights said this on the occasion of the trial for the criminal offense of extorting a statement accompanied by severe violence in the police to the detriment of Marko Boljević, where police inspectors Danilo Grbović, Nemanja Vujošević, Dalibor Ljekočević, Bojan Vujačić and Ivan Peruničić are accused by the state prosecution of having on 25 on May 2020, Marko Boljević was tortured with electric shockers, beaten with boxing gloves, baseball bats...

In another case, Ljekočević was accused of committing the same crime against Benjamin Mugoš, and was subsequently arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking.

"All the witnesses stood by the statements given before the competent prosecution," the announcement states.

"The victim, Marko Boljević, claimed that police inspectors tortured him with electric shockers, hit him with boxing gloves, baseball bats and fists in the upper part of his body and on the soles of his feet, that they threatened him with murder and held a gun to his head, that they strangled him, humiliated him, wrote a farewell letter addressed to his family and threatened to torture and kill his family, as well as his girlfriend, in order to force him to give a false statement accusing Jovan Grujičić and Benjamin Mugoša of planting explosives," the HRA statement added.

According to reports, Boljević, upon the suggestion of the defendants' lawyer that Boljević was afraid of the Mugoš brothers, since the policemen claimed that they protected him from them, said, "I felt fear of the Mugoš brothers, because the police officers forced me to accuse them of something which I had no knowledge that they had done".

"His father, Goran Boljević, points out that on the evening of May 25, the injuries on Marko's body were visible "from the plane", which is why he encouraged him to report this case to the competent institutions," the announcement states.

As it is pointed out, "NP and VP witnesses confirmed that one of the accused inspectors, Dalibor Ljekočević, came to pick up Boljević in Lapčići. They said that they could not recognize the others, because they were under blindfolds, and they did not introduce themselves".

"The continuation of the trial is scheduled for June 7 at 9 a.m., when DA and VM, polygraph examiner CB Podgorica, are scheduled to testify," the HRA press release states.

The HRA said that at the previous hearing, all five accused inspectors denied their guilt.

Action for Human Rights said that they will continue to follow this procedure and advocate for the investigation and punishment of torture, in accordance with international standards that bind Montenegro.

Four police officers accused of extorting testimony from Podgorica resident Marko Boljević were suspended by the decision of the Minister of Internal Affairs, Filip Adžić, while the fifth was suspended earlier.