The trial for the criminal offense of extorting a statement followed by serious violence by the police from the victim Marko Boljević continued today before the Basic Court in Podgorica, when state prosecutor Ivana Vuksanović, who was proposed by the attorney of the victim, was heard, according to the statement of the Civic Alliance (GA). .
A representative of the GA attended the trial, which the organization continuously monitors.
As stated in the GA announcement, the court case for police torture against Marko Boljević was started in 2022.
"As stated in the indictment, Marko Boljević suffered police torture in May 2020 during the investigation of the "bomb attacks" that took place in Podgorica, where, as Boljević states, he was asked to give a false statement in which he would the perpetrator of the criminal act known as "bombing attacks", to accuse a person who is not known to have committed it", the announcement reads.
Criminal inspectors Danilo Grbović, Dalibor Ljekočević, Bojan Vujačić, Ivan Peruničić and Nemanja Vujošević were accused of extorting testimony from Boljević.
The GA points out that Ljekočević is accused in another case of having committed the same crime against Benjamin Mugoša, who is also still being prosecuted before the Basic Court in Podgorica.
"At today's trial, state prosecutor Vuksanović stated in her testimony, answering the questions of the injured party's attorney, among other things, that she could not remember the details of the event when the injured party came to her to give a statement, that is, that she could not remember who brought, with which he was brought, nor could she remember whether she had with her the record of listening to the injured party, which he gave in his capacity as a citizen before the police," the GA statement added.
They emphasized that the prosecutor Vuksanović stated that she did not notice the injuries on the injured Boljević, and that otherwise she would have noted this and carried out certain official actions accordingly.
"She also stated that Boljević did not indicate the use of violence (whether physical or verbal) by police officers, and that otherwise the allegations of violence would have been recorded," the statement said.
As stated in the statement of the GA, when asked by the attorney for the defense of police officers whether the prosecutor knew that at the level of the prosecutor's office there is an act or rulebook on the actions of the prosecutor's office in the event that there is a suspicion of a victim of torture, Vuksanović stated that she knew that something similar existed, but that such a thing existed even before she became a prosecutor.
However, she said in the announcement, she emphasized that in these cases, they are certainly handled in accordance with international law and international conventions, and that if it is noticed that a person has suffered torture, a note is made about it.
"The proposal of the injured party's attorney, Marko Boljević, to hear the witness Srđan Milikić was accepted. Also, the defense's proposal to re-hear Srđan Korać as a witness, who had already testified at the previous hearing, was accepted. We remind you that Korać was the head of the Criminal Investigation Unit that charges this crime," explains GA.
The continuation of the trial is scheduled for October 11, 2023, starting at 12 noon.
Marko Boljević reported the allegations of torture in May 2020, so he has been waiting for a first-instance court decision for more than two and a half years.
The GA points out that in the case of this type of criminal offense, time is certainly needed in order to conduct the evidentiary proceedings in a quality manner, and to take into account all the circumstances that had an impact on the report of torture, but that it is evident that the proceedings must be conducted more efficiently and in accordance with the trial within a reasonable time.
"As the legal team of the Civil Alliance continuously monitors the trials related to possible police torture, we see that some of the heard witnesses are already giving statements in which they state that they do not remember the details of the case, referring to the time that passed from the event to hearings," they state.
They reminded that the beginning of the trial for the torture for which five inspectors of the criminal department of the Police Directorate are being tried has been postponed several times.
The first trial was scheduled for September 15, 2022.
"The trial was postponed, citing as the reason that one of the accused police officers was not duly served with a summons for the trial. Then the second scheduled trial was also postponed; this time the reason for the postponement was the illness of the two accused inspectors," it added.
The next appointment and the third trial attempt for November 28, 2022, has also been postponed.
The lawyer representing the accused submitted a request to exclude the acting state prosecutor from the proceedings, as well as the entire Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica, due to suspicion of impartiality.
"According to the request for exemption, the Higher State Prosecutor's Office gave its opinion, which rejected the request, and a new trial was scheduled for January 25, 2023. However, the trial did not start this time either due to the impossibility of the presence of one of the accused due to health reasons," they said. from GA.
At the fifth scheduled hearing on March 2023, XNUMX, the main trial began with the request of the defendants' lawyers to exclude the public. The acting judge of the Basic Court in Podgorica rejected this proposal, with the explanation that the procedural prerequisites for the exclusion of the public were not met, nor did the nature of the procedure itself require it. Also, the lawyer's proposal to exclude from the proceedings the statements of witness Marko Boljević and his father Goran was also not acceptable to the court. The defense of the defendants found the explanation in their request that the statements made by Benjamin and Goran Mugoša were not attended by the defendant police officers. However, the judge rejected the request, explaining that they could not attend, because at that moment their identity was not known. The trial continued with the reading of the indictment and the presentation of the defense.
At the sixth hearing on May 2023, XNUMX, witnesses Marko Boljević, his father Goran, as well as two police officers who handed Boljević over to criminal police inspectors were heard. All those interviewed remained true to the statements they gave before the prosecution. Namely, Marko Boljević stated that the police officers tortured him with electric shockers, threatened to harm his family and his girlfriend, that they strangled him, put a gun to his head, all with the aim of extorting a false statement. The injured party's father, Goran, stated that the injuries his son suffered were easily noticeable and proceeded to give a detailed statement about the resulting injuries, as well as how the communication between him and his son took place while he was deprived of his liberty.
At the beginning of the trial, which was held on June XNUMX this year, two witnesses were heard who took a polygraph examination on the day in question, as well as a court medical expert. During the proceedings, the injured party's attorney as well as the prosecutor asked for the presentation of additional evidence, which the judge will subsequently declare, while the defendant's representative opposed the presentation of new evidence - except for one, considering it an unnecessary delay in the proceedings. The victim Marko Boljević did not attend the hearing, and the trial was followed by his father Goran Boljević, who was heard as a witness at the previous trial.
The trial continued on July XNUMX this year, with the hearing of the witness Srđan Korać, head of the Criminal Police station for the suppression of blood crimes and domestic violence, while the injured party was not present.
During the proceedings, the witness emphasized that he received the allegations of torture later, after the hearing before the inspectors and later before the prosecutor, and that Boljević cooperated perfectly well with them in the proceedings, and that therefore the accusations of coercion against him have no basis. Answering the prosecutor's questions, Korać pointed out that none of the defendants told him that force had been used and that he would certainly have been informed if there had been an excess of authority. He also points out that this would have been noticed by the other parties and employees, bearing in mind that the interrogation took place in the morning hours when the interrogation rooms are mostly full of people, because according to Boljević's report, the torture lasted for hours. He also reminded about the polygraph examination, that is, that it could not be held with the victim of violence, because she must be calm at the moment of giving the answers and they must be given on a voluntary basis.
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