Rovčanin was remanded in custody

In the continuation of the trial of those accused of smuggling around 60 kilograms of cocaine that was found on the school's military ship "Jadran", the defendant Dejan Rovčanin was ordered into custody today.

The president of the special panel of the High Court in Podgorica, judge Zoran Radović, said today that the Court of Appeals annulled the decision of his panel which, at the beginning of November, at the suggestion of lawyer Marko Damjanović, terminated the detention.

The judge stated that in the re-decision, the extra-judicial panel of the High Court ordered custody. After today's trial, Rovčanin was taken to UIKS.

Lawyer Marko Damjanović told the News that he has already filed an appeal with the Court of Appeal of Montenegro against the panel's decision to order his client into custody.

Today, Judge Radović's council adopted the proposal of lawyer Ratko Pantović, and separated from the case file the record of the search of the Opatovo military facility, in which a small amount of drugs was found, as legally invalid evidence.

The lawyer particularly pointed out that the presence of two witnesses was not ensured, as well as that the cases were moved, which makes the minutes legally invalid.

"They could have put anything like that. They didn't find it the first time, so they found the second one," said the defense attorney of the defendant, Radomir Osmajić.

The special prosecutor's indictment states that Vladimir M. Račić, who is on the run, Dejan D. Rovčanin, Duško V. Radenović, Radomir R. Osmajić and Vojin M. Stupar are accused of smuggling around 60 kilograms of cocaine.

According to the indictment, in order to implement the criminal plan, the defendant Duško Radenović together with Miloš Kulić, a senior sergeant in the Navy of Montenegro, who was designated as an accomplice witness by the decision of the High Court in Podgorica, on April 17, 2019, according to a previous agreement, with intent encouraged to commit a criminal offense by the defendants Račić and Rovčanin.

The defendants Račić and Stupar, as co-perpetrators, committed the criminal offense of unauthorized production, possession and distribution of narcotic drugs in conjunction with illegal possession of weapons, while Radenović also committed the same criminal offences. The defendants Račić and Rovčanin committed the criminal offense of creating a criminal organization under Article 401 a, paragraph 1, and the defendants Radenović, Osmajić and Stupar committed the crime of creating a criminal organization under Article 401 a, paragraph 2 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro.

The next hearing is scheduled for December 21.