Will the "Serbian miners" end up before the judicial authorities of Montenegro: The legal basis exists, it also depends on the political will

In a situation where Montenegro and Serbia have concluded an extradition agreement, which was ratified by the National Assembly, the procedure for extradition of persons deprived of liberty starts when the Ministry of Justice of Serbia receives a request with supporting documentation from the Ministry of Justice of Montenegro. Only then would the Serbian authorities evaluate the fulfillment of the conditions for the extradition of their citizens, depending on the qualification of the criminal offense and the fulfillment of the conditions from the signed extradition treaty between the two countries, Belgrade lawyer Ivan Ninić told "Vijesti" commenting on the possibility of extraditing the "Serbian miners".

The police and the prosecution claim that they have identified the contractors for digging the tunnel from the basement of the building at Njegoševa 12 in Podgorica to the High Court depot. According to the investigators, this was done by Veljko Marković (32), his uncle Milan Marković (53), Dejan Jovanović (30) and Vladimir Erić (32) from Loznica...

Attorney Ninić points out that, if you take into account Art. 7a of the agreement concluded by Montenegro and Serbia, there are indeed restrictions on the extradition of their citizens to another state, in terms of the type of criminal offense and the amount of the threatened punishment.

"Those restrictions refer to a group of criminal offenses in the field of corruption, however, criminal offenses in the field of organized crime are unquestionable if they are recognized by the legislation of both countries," explains Ninić.

He believes that it is important how the Montenegrin judiciary will qualify these criminal acts, and the Serbian authorities in such a situation would certainly appreciate the fulfillment of the conditions for the extradition of their citizens.

"We have a solid agreement and tools for cooperation, but certainly there is a lot of room for discretionary and political moves here. I want to believe that in this case it would not be a similar situation as with Svetozar Marović, because it would seriously threaten the international reputation of Serbia", the Belgrade lawyer points out.

In a situation where it turns out that specific persons are on the territory of Serbia, and at the same time they are wanted by Interpol, then, according to Ninić, the Serbian police would have the obligation to arrest them at any moment.

"If that were to happen, I believe that, first, our security services would need to have a high-quality informal conversation with them, and then formal procedures would follow," explains Ninić.

In this case, the so-called the red warrant of Interpol means that the judiciary of Montenegro, through the instruments of international police cooperation, is looking for persons who are not available from the police of other countries. This is based on the assumption that the suspects are perpetrators of the most serious crimes and that they are hiding, that is, that they are not in the territory of Montenegro at all.

"The task of the court, the Ministry of Justice and the police is to use credible evidence to convince the head office of the Interpol headquarters in Lyon that there are conditions for issuing a 'red warrant'. When it officially happens, photos of specific persons and their personal data will be available in public Interpol databases, as well as at all border crossings and airports in the world. This restricts the perpetrators of the most serious crimes, first of all, their freedom of movement, and thus their daily life. The police of other countries are obliged to detain the person on the 'red warrant', and the requested country, where the persons were found and detained, implements the procedures of international legal assistance, with the aim of extraditing them at the request of Montenegro", Ninić points out.

What does the Serbian law say about extradition?

The Law on Confirmation of the Agreement between the Republic of Serbia and Montenegro provides criminal offenses for which the extradition of one's own citizens is permitted. Article 7a of this law states that "the extradition of one's own citizens for the purpose of criminal prosecution will be allowed if the conditions prescribed by this agreement are met only for criminal acts of organized crime, against humanity and other goods protected by international law, corruption and money laundering, for which according to the law of both contracting states prescribes a prison sentence of four years or a heavier punishment, i.e. a measure that implies deprivation of liberty, as well as for other serious crimes, i.e. serious forms of criminal offenses, for which a prison sentence of at least five years is prescribed or a more severe punishment, that is, a measure that implies deprivation of liberty".

Serbia's extradition of its own citizens "in order to execute a legally imposed prison sentence or a measure that implies deprivation of liberty shall be allowed if the conditions prescribed by this contract are met only for criminal offenses from paragraph 1 of this article and if the imposed prison sentence or a measure that implies deprivation of liberty, i.e. their the remainder to be executed is at least two years".

Suspects are not seen in Loznica

Veljko and his uncle Milan Marković, as well as Vladimir Erić (32), according to one of the residents of Loznica who wished to remain anonymous, have not been seen by anyone in the last ten days.

"Milan Marković has not been in Loznica for a long time, and Veljko and Vladimir used to see each other almost every day in the city or in local cafes. Since this was made public, it's as if they've fallen into the ground," says the Loznica resident.

According to him, almost everyone in the city is sure that all three are hiding somewhere in Serbia because they are safest there.

"It is common practice here for criminals to hide in various 'shacks' in Serbia, and in Bosnia they only escape if they are about to be arrested or possibly extradited to another country, as in this case."

As "Vijesti" already wrote, Veljko Marković and Vladimir Erić do not belong to serious criminals. Veljko comes from a respectable family where two of his brothers and his father work in dentistry, Erić is the owner of a car repair shop.