While Vesna Medenica was in custody, someone in the police deleted the Signal and Telegram applications from her phone at five in the morning, but part of the data from that device was returned by the National Security Agency (ANB) with the help of an advanced program.
This was announced yesterday in the courtroom of the Podgorica High Court by the special prosecutor Jovan Vukotic, at the beginning of the trial of that former president of the Supreme Court and judge Milici Vlahović Milosavljević.
The Police Administration and the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) did not respond to Vijesti's questions - whether they are determining who from the police tried to destroy part of the contents of Medeniča's phone in this way.
Yesterday, Judge Nada Rabrenović postponed the main hearing until February 16, 2024.
Previously, Special State Prosecutor Vukas Radonjic read the statement of the prosecution on the proposals, objecting to the exclusion of the ANB report on the search of Medenica's mobile phone from the evidence.
He said that the findings were made in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) and added that for the same reason there is no reason to exclude the testimony of the accused Vlahović Milosavljević, because she was heard in accordance with the law.
His colleague Jovan Vukotić then stated that the fact that the finding was not signed and that there was no seal was not a legal obligation of the ANB officer. He explained that the document was signed by the director of that service and indicated that he could comment on it.
Lawyers Nikola Martinovic i Zdravko Begović, then they requested that the trial be postponed, because, as they said, before yesterday's statement, they did not receive the position of the prosecutor.
Prosecutor Radonjić replied that he sent the statement to the High Court on December 5.
Vukotić then said that, while Medenica was arrested, someone in the police deleted the Signal and Telegram applications at five in the morning.
He explained that ANB, using the advanced program "Celebrity 12 +", returned those applications, and that some of the messages that were found are not important.
"If it is a fact that someone in the police deleted the application from Vesna Medenica's mobile phone, that completely compromises that evidence. Because as someone in the police intervened in her favor, he could also intervene to her detriment," said Martinović.
He pointed out that the order included only the search of Medenica's mobile phone, but not the return of applications. He stated that ANB did not have the authority to return the data to the phone.
"Data is stored in various places, applications... this phone was a key for them, an instrument to get to certain data. When the phone is expertized, what is in it is expertized. They were returning data, applications, that's a totally different legal action. In my opinion, it is absurd that the ANB institution is responsible for expert reports. It is obvious that ANB was used to restore certain applications, and not to search Medenica's phone. It's like going to a neighbor's apartment and taking data," said Martinović.
Prosecutor Vukotić stated that ANB is a "sui generis" state body.
"SDT and ANB have programs for searching phones. ANB has more advanced. The option was to send the phone to a foreign country or for us to try to open it. ANB returned the Telegram application halfway, and Signal failed," emphasized prosecutor Vukotić.
Lawyer Zdravko Begović said that it is clear what the goal was and why the ANB searched the "iPhone"...
"What was in that phone could be faked, what wasn't, couldn't be. They were returning data. Prosecutor Vukotić said that there was nothing controversial in that expert report. We only now see why it was done, messages were published every day," Begović emphasized.
That lawyer then said that Medenica will not present a defense until a decision is made on their proposals to separate the record of the hearing of Judge Vlahović Milosavljević.
Defense: They did everything outside the law
All that the defense proposed was that the record of the search of Mrs. Vesna Medenica's mobile phone, which according to the prosecutor and according to what is found in the case file, was searched in the ANB, as an illegal evidence, because the Special State the prosecution did not have such high-quality software, Begović said after the postponed hearing.
He explained that the position of the prosecution is that the defense, that is, the defense attorney, had no right to attend the hearing of one of the defendants, during the hearing of the other defendant.
"We considered that this was all that was done against the law and that the court should finally, according to our proposal, make such a decision and separate those evidences that were obtained illegally. The prosecutor gave a written statement that did not reach the defense in a timely manner and we were unable to express ourselves in a quality way, that's why we asked for the main trial to be postponed, which the court accepted. I expect that the court will accept or decide on our proposals by the next main hearing so that we can start discussing. We still don't know if those correspondences that were found in Mrs. Vesna Medenica's phone were obtained in a legal way. We believe that they were obtained contrary to the Code of Criminal Procedure," said the lawyer.
The previous hearing was adjourned on October 18, after lawyer Martinović suggested that the minutes of the hearing of July 12, 2022, Vlahović Milosavljević be separated from the case file.
He then clarified that her defense attorney was not present, but that Vesna Medenica's defense attorney was not informed either.
"Judge Vlahović Milosavljević was then heard without his lawyer and without calling Vesna Medenica's lawyer," said lawyer Martinović.
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