The Supreme Court of Montenegro rejected the proposal of the Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica to extend the detention of the defendants Dalibor Ljekočević, David Ljekočević, Damir Kuč, Stefan Stefanović and Turkjan Šutaj, for the criminal offense of unauthorized production, possession and distribution of narcotic drugs, after which they were custody was terminated, their defense lawyer Damir Lekić confirmed to "Vijesta".
Commenting on the Supreme Court's decision, Lekić, who is the defense attorney for Kuč and Stefanović, and lawyer Balša Dragović, who is the defense attorney for David and Dalibor Ljekočević, clarified that these defendants have not yet been released from custody despite the Supreme Court's decision.
Officer of the Police Directorate Dalibor Ljekočević was arrested on February 8 by order of the Higher State Prosecutor's Office on reasonable suspicion that he had committed the criminal offense of "unauthorized production and distribution of narcotic drugs".
In the files of the Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica, it is stated that Ljekočević sold drugs to an agent in disguise on two occasions, and Damir Kuč and Stefan Stefanović, who were also arrested on February 8, mediated that business.
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It is clarified that in the period from September 2021 to the end of the same month in 2022, that policeman sold heroin to the defendant Natalija Konatar once a month, and that in November and December last year, he sold the same prohibited substance to an undercover investigator.
Thirty-year-old Dalibor Ljekočević, his brother David, who is six years younger, Kuč and Stefanović, were arrested in an operation by the police and the High Prosecutor's Office, codenamed "Lovka". In addition to them, the defendants in the same case are Kosovar Šutaj Turkjan, as well as Natalija Konatar, a native of Belgrade living in Podgorica.
On the day of the arrest, the police announced that during the months-long operation, they seized a total of 230 grams of heroin, about 120 grams of marijuana, money in the amount of 23.345 euros, four vehicles, 105 pieces of ammunition and two scales for accurate measurement.
The decision of the Supreme Court states that the proposal of the Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica to extend the detention of the defendants Dalibor Ljekočević, David Ljekočević, Damir Kuč, Stefan Stefanović and Turkjan Šutaj is rejected.
It is added that the order of the Higher State Prosecutor's Office from Podgorica dated February 10, 02 determined the conduct of an investigation against the defendants Dalibor Ljekočević, David Ljekočević, Damir Kuč, Stefan Stefanović and Turkjan Shutaj, for the criminal offense of unauthorized production, possession and distribution narcotic drugs from Article 2023 paragraph 300 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro.
"The defendants were remanded in custody by the decision of the investigating judge of the High Court in Podgorica dated February 10, 02, on the basis of detention from Article 2023 paragraph 175 item 1 of the Criminal Procedure Code, for a maximum of one month, starting from February 1, 08.02.2023. By the decision of the panel of the Higher Court in Podgorica dated March 06, 03, it was extended for another month, so according to that decision, it can last until May 2023, 08.05.2023. Before the end of the detention of the defendants, the Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica submitted to this court a proposal dated 03/05/2023 to extend the detention of the defendants for another month, on the basis of detention from Article 175 paragraph 1 point 1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. In the proposal for the extension of detention, it is stated that during the duration of the detention the investigation could not be completed for objective reasons. It is indicated that during the investigation in question it was necessary to carry out expert examinations, namely chemical, DNA, trasological and graphological expert examinations, as well as to carry out a search of mobile phones that were temporarily confiscated from the defendants, and that in addition, the defense attorney of the defendants Damir Kuč and Stefan Stefanović, a lawyer On February 09, 02, Damir Lekić requested a re-hearing of the defendants, which could not be carried out until April 2023, 28 due to the defense attorney's inability to attend the hearing for justified reasons," the Supreme Court's explanation states.
It is added that "taking into account the results of the expert examination, and especially the results of the DNA examination, it is indicated in the proposal for the extension of custody that it is necessary to re-examine the defendants Dalibor Ljekočević and David Ljekočević due to the existence of a well-founded suspicion that they illegally possessed the narcotic drug heroin for sale 08/02/2023 in the rented apartment of Shutaj Turkjana, at the address Park šuma Zagorič in Podgorica".
"In the session of the council, the entire case files were considered and the allegations of the submitted proposal were evaluated, so the council found that the proposal to extend the detention of the defendants was unfounded. According to the provisions of Article 177, paragraph 3 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, if the proceedings are conducted for a criminal offense for which a penalty has been prescribed imprisonment for more than five years, the panel of the Supreme Court may, on the reasoned proposal of the state prosecutor, for important reasons, extend the detention by a maximum of another three months. This provision implies that the burden of proving the need for further detention rests with the state prosecutor and that his proposal must contain facts and circumstances that justify the existence of a well-founded suspicion of a committed criminal offense and detention reasons for which detention can be ordered. Along with the existence of well-founded suspicion, it must also be assessed whether there are relevant and sufficient reasons for detention arising from the facts and information obtained That is why the proposal for the determination or extension of detention must include facts that support the detention or extension of detention, and not only the provisions of the Code that provide the possibility for the determination or extension of detention. Therefore, the proposal for the extension of detention must contain an explanation of the validity of the claim that detention should be extended. Contrary to the above, in the proposal of the Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica, dated 03.05.2023/XNUMX/XNUMX, it is only stated that the investigation could not be completed for objective reasons, because it was necessary to carry out expert examinations, namely chemical, DNA, trasological and graphological expert examinations, as and carry out a search of the mobile phones that were temporarily confiscated from the defendants, which procedural actions, according to the state of the files, have already been carried out, and which are not called into question by the proposal," the explanation reads.
It is stated that "as regards the allegations of the proposal that, bearing in mind the results of the expert examination, especially the results of the DNA examination from 23.03.2023 and the trasological examination from 28.02.2023, and that it is necessary that the defendants Dalibor Ljekočević and David Ljekočević re-heard due to the existence of a well-founded suspicion that they were in possession of the narcotic drug heroin without authorization for the purpose of sale, it should be pointed out that the very proposal for the extension of detention shows that these expert examinations were conducted on 28.02.2023 and 23.03.2023 and that the defendants are still in detention, i.e. they are available to the prosecution for questioning, so it is not about objective reasons why the investigation could not be completed".
"The proposal of the Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica does not indicate any other objective reasons. Article 30 paragraph 4 of the Constitution of Montenegro stipulates that the duration of detention must be reduced to the shortest possible time," the explanation of the Supreme Court's decision states.
Lekić: Another incredible and completely unexpected situation happened
Lekić and Dragović said that another incredible and completely unexpected situation happened.
"This was really good news for these defendants and their defense attorneys, because the Supreme Court found that detention is no longer necessary or needed, and therefore rejected the proposal for its extension. According to the regular sequence of events, they had to be on the 04th. 05, 2023, released from custody, but for some unknown reasons, this did not happen here at all. But another incredible and completely non-coincidental situation happened, which is exactly what follows. So, as I said before, by the decision of the Supreme Court of Montenegro dated May 04.05.2023, XNUMX, the proposal of the Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica was rejected, which requested that the defendants Dalibor Ljekičević, David Ljekočević, Damir Kuč, Stefan Stefanović and Turkjan Šutaj be further detained. They had to be immediately released from pre-trial detention, but for some reason they were still kept in pre-trial detention, although no longer, not that there is no solution based on which the further duration of detention is still in force, but also the proposal of the Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica's request for extension of custody by the competent court was rejected," said Lekić and Dragović in a joint statement.
They added that "it didn't end here."
"The higher state prosecutor's office in Podgorica, after noticing that the Supreme Court of Montenegro rejected the proposal for the extension of custody, the same on May 05.05.2023, 13 at around 30:12 p.m., probably thinking that no one would notice it, or that they would to simply ignore it, the High Court in Podgorica filed an indictment against the defendants with a proposal to extend their detention, despite the fact that the day before it was known that there was a decision of the Supreme Court of Montenegro, Cr. No. 23/04.05.2023 dated 04.05.2023/XNUMX/XNUMX. which on that day rejected the same proposal and put an end to the existence of detention. And after receiving this indictment and this proposal for the extension of detention submitted by the Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica, the Higher Court in Podgorica, although it was also aware that there is a decision of the Supreme Court of Montenegro from May XNUMX, XNUMX, which refused to extend custody, putting an end to its existence, nevertheless accepted to extend the defendants' detention by passing a decision on the extension of custody," said Lekić and Dragović.
According to them, "this is a huge abuse of rights and legal powers by the High State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica and the High Court in Podgorica to the detriment of these defendants, since both state authorities were aware of the decision of the Supreme Court of Montenegro dated 04.05.2023. 04.05.2023, which put an end to detention on May XNUMX, XNUMX, and the defendants had to be released."
"The defendants were illegally and without any legal basis in detention from 04.05.2023/05.05.2023/XNUMX until at least XNUMX/XNUMX/XNUMX, when the High Court in Podgorica issued an illegal decision on the extension of detention," said Lekić and Dragović.
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