The investigating judge of the High Court in Podgorica, Suzana Mugoša, accepted the offer of Aleksandar Mijajlović that the man from Podgorica, with a bail of 1,1 million euros, defend himself from the accusations that he created a criminal organization that smuggled cigarettes.
Marija Raković, the court's public relations advisor, told "Vijesta" that the prosecution has the right to appeal the decision and that Mijajlović can be released after the final decision and after the state registers a note on the property guaranteeing that Mijajlović will not run away.
On March 22, Mijajlović's defense attorneys Zoran Piperović and Stefan Jovanović guaranteed the court with 1,1 million euros that the man from Podgorica would be available to them if his detention was terminated.
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Piperović and Jovanović told "Vijesta" that Judge Mugoša ordered surveillance measures - a ban on leaving the place of residence, confiscation of travel documents and the obligation to periodically report to the police.
Piperović pointed out that they expected the decision as it was made, because there is no reason for it to be otherwise.
"We expect an appeal from the prosecution, but also that the council will make the same decision as made by Judge Mugoša," he said.
He added that the judge did not deal with well-founded suspicion:
"What annoys me and my colleague Stefan Jovanović the most, because if she was dealing with well-founded suspicion, it would be very questionable whether there are grounds for detention at all, since it was first determined. I know that someone is angry because I came out in public with a statement that evidence is only now being obtained for a well-founded suspicion for our client Aleksandar Mijajlović, and that is not according to justice and is not according to the law. No one has any problem if someone has a well-founded suspicion that a certain person should be detained and that his defense counsel should continue in the courtroom, but if there is none, and there is none here, there was not a single reason to arrest Aleksandar Mijajlović," said Piperović.
Jovanović said that the bail offered, along with the simultaneous determination of measures - confiscation of the travel document, reporting to the Police Directorate, the ban on leaving the residence, represent a sufficient guarantee that Mijajlović will be present and that the proceedings will proceed unhindered.
"And all this is indicated by his behavior during the previous period of three years, when despite all the possible accusations from the biggest state addresses, he was still there and did not run away. The investigating judge referred to the practice of the European Court of Human Rights and pointed to a number of decisions with lower amounts were adopted, among other things, Mićković was also granted bail for cigarettes. It is a completely justified decision, but it will be a legal appeal from the prosecution we expect nothing but professionalism and fairness from the council," said Jovanović.
Mijajlović was arrested on February 19 by order of the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT), which accuses him of forming a criminal group that smuggled cigarettes with another person.
The SDT named police officers Milenko Mića Rabrenović, Radoje Rabrenović, Dragan Backović and Mirko Mijušković as members of Mijajlović's criminal team, then Dejan Jokić, Golub Vojinović, Milan Vukadinović and several persons whose identification the prosecutors are working on.
After the arrest, "Vijesti" was told that in the files of the SDT, which manages the case, it is written that the members of that organized group smuggled cigarettes internationally for at least three years - from 2019 to the end of 2021.
"Mijajlović and another person, according to the available evidence, created that organization in 2019," claims the newspaper's interlocutor.
According to that information, correspondence from the encrypted Sky phone application, in which, according to the investigators, the arrested participated, is said to be among the data forwarded from Europol. Some of their lawyers denied the claims.
A months-long action by the SDT resulted in the arrest, as insiders claim, of the very top of the so-called Grand clan, with Aleksandar Aco Mijajlović at its head.
In addition to the second organizer, according to "Vijesti" information, investigators are looking for several other persons who participated in that illegal business, and who are now listed as unknown persons in the prosecutor's files.
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