The closing arguments of special prosecutors Zoran Vučinić and Siniša Milić in the repeated court proceedings in the case known as the "coup d'etat" took several hours today in the High Court in Podgorica.
It started this morning at eight o'clock and ended a little after 17 o'clock.
Prosecutors proposed to the court that the organizers of the criminal group, Russian citizens Eduard Shishmakov, be sentenced to 15 years in prison, and Vladimir Popov to 12 years.
They requested that the former commander of the Serbian Gendarmerie, Bratislav Dikić, be sentenced to a single sentence of eight years in prison. For Predrag Bogićević and Nemanja Ristić, a sentence of seven years in prison was proposed in the closing arguments.
For former Democratic Front (DF) leaders Andrija Mandić and Milan Knežević, prosecutors requested five years in prison each.
The prosecution proposed a sentence of three years in prison for the defendant Branka Milić, while one year and six months in prison was requested for Milan Dušić and Srboljub Đorđević, and one year and nine months in prison for Dragan Maksić.
For the driver of former DF leader Mihail Čađenović, the prosecutor requested a year and six months in prison.
A suspended sentence was proposed for Kristina Hristić.
The prosecutors read the closing statement prepared by the prosecution representative Jelena Protić, who is on sick leave.
The special prosecutor's office completely stuck to the earlier indictment and asked the special panel presided over by judge Zoran Radović to declare the defendants guilty and punish them according to the law.
Prosecutor Vučinić slightly changed and specified the indictment, but the legal qualification of the criminal acts remained unchanged.
For several hours, they read and analyzed in detail the defense of the defendants, the statements of the examined witnesses as well as the witness of Saša Sinđelić's collaborator. They recalled the material evidence found in the case files. They believe that the defenses of the defendants have been refuted by the testimony of the heard witnesses and the evidence presented at the main trial, especially by the testimony of the associate witness Saša Sinđelić.
The defendants' lawyers, Miroje Jovanović, Dražen Medojević, Nikola Medojević, Vaso Bečanović, Mladen Dubak, Radonja Drakulović and Dušan Radosavljevic, requested an acquittal in their closing arguments.
The special panel chaired by judge Zoran Radović will announce the verdict in the "coup d'etat" case on July 12.
Closing arguments ended around midnight.
The indictment was brought against Eduard Šišmakov, who is on the run, Vladimir Popov, a citizen of the Russian Federation, Bratislava R. Dikić, Predrag S. Bogićević, on the run, Nemanja M. Ristić, Miloš G. Jovanović, Srboljub T. Đorđević, Kristina R. Hristić, Branke J. Milić, Milana Ž. Dušić, Dragan M. Maksić, Mihailo M. Čađenović, the driver of the DF leader, and Andrija V. Mandić and Milan D. Knežević. According to the indictment, the defendants Šišmakov and Popov committed the criminal offense of creating a criminal organization, and the defendants Dikić, Bogićević, Ristić, Jovanović, Hristić, Milić, Dušić, Maksić, Đorđević, Čađenović, Mandić and Knežević committed the criminal offense of creating a criminal organization. The defendants Šišmakov and Popov committed the criminal offense of attempted terrorism as co-perpetrators, and the defendants Dikić, Bogićević and Ristić committed the criminal offense of attempted terrorism by aiding and abetting.
The third count of the indictment states that the defendant Šišmakov committed the criminal offense of preparing an offense against the constitutional order and security of Montenegro by means of incitement.
In the earlier proceedings, all the accused were convicted. Accepting the appeals of the defense lawyers, the Appellate Court of Montenegro annulled the first-instance verdict in this case.
"The panel annulled the first-instance verdict because in the process of its adoption and in the verdict itself, significant violations of the provisions of the criminal procedure were committed, and because of which neither the factual nor the legal conclusions in the first-instance verdict could be accepted, both in relation to the existence of the criminal offenses for which the accused were charged guilty, as well as in relation to the existence of their guilt for those acts", it was stated earlier in the announcement of the Appellate Court.
Mandić and Knežević were sentenced to five years in prison by the overturned verdict, for, as it is written in the indictment, membership in a criminal organization since February 2016. The organizers of that group - Russians Eduard Šišmakov and Vladimir Popov - were sentenced to a total of 27 years in prison. The former commander of the Serbian Gendarmerie Bratislav Dikić was sentenced to a single sentence of eight years, and Predrag Bogićević and Nemanja Ristić to seven years in prison. By the same decision, Srboljub Đorđević and Milan Dušić were each sentenced to one and a half years in prison, Branka Milić to three years in prison, Dragan Maksić to one year and nine months in prison, while Kristina Hristić was given a suspended sentence. DF driver Mihailo Čađenović was sentenced to one year and six months in prison. The indictment states that the two Russians organized a criminal group and recruited other members for the purpose of gaining illegal profits and power, violently overthrowing the government and declaring the electoral victory of DF and preventing Montenegro from joining the NATO alliance.
The criminal organization, it is stated, planned to, on the day of the parliamentary elections on October 16, 2016, with the help of the Democratic Front, clash with the Montenegrin police and forcefully occupy the Parliament of Montenegro, as well as to kidnap and kill the then prime minister and the current president of Montenegro. Milo Đukanović.
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