Former director of the Police Administration Slavko Stojanovic yesterday in the Podgorica High Court, he pleaded guilty to cigarette smuggling and said he was sorry, but the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) will not discuss the defense's proposal to conclude a plea agreement.
At the main trial, Stojanović pleaded not guilty to the illegal possession of a gun, for which the prosecution charges him, in addition to the criminal offense of abuse of official position.
His defense attorney, a lawyer Miroslav Adzic he said before the court panel that the defense offered a proposal to enter into a plea agreement.
Special State Prosecutor Jovan Vukotic he stated that SDT refuses it.
Presenting his defense, Stojanović said before the court that during 2018, which is mentioned in the indictment, he was under professional and moral pressure, because the security situation, as he stated, was complex.
He added that there were murders for which they had official information, but that despite this, they were unable to prevent them. He said that he was also affected by the fact that innocent people were killed and that he made irrational decisions because of everything.
Referring to the accusations of cigarette truck smuggling, he stated:
"On the critical day, March 31, 3, I was called by a friend who, as far as I remember, told me that a truck with cigarettes had been stopped and asked me to help him because his family's honor was at stake. I understood that it was an illegal transport. I felt the human need to help, not considering the consequences," Stojanović said.
He added that at the time he was under pressure due to the complex security situation and that he was not thinking rationally.
"He was killed with explosives in those days Drazen Čađenović. We had information that the liquidation of Čađenović was being prepared, he was followed but the escort lost him and he was killed. I live in the City district, where I felt that explosion. That affected me," said Stojanović, adding that there was also a murder in which he died Jovanovic.
He emphasized that he sincerely regrets the decision he made lightly, without justifying himself.
"I considered that any innocent victim was not worthy of my position and I resigned," he stressed.
He added that he was sorry because, with an ill-considered decision, he had discredited the institution at the head of which he had worked for forty years.
Speaking about the second charge of unlawful possession of a weapon, he explained that he borrowed the gun as part of a professional service.
"When I resigned, on the first day, I took the gun to my mother," he said.
As he stated, he was waiting for a call from a colleague with whom he had been communicating regarding the discharge of weapons.
He added that he got that gun from a colleague, the assistant of the Ministry of the Interior at the time.
"It was handed to me in the cabinet, and then a contingent of those pistols arrived, which were assigned to police officers by decision of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. I don't know how the documentation for that got lost. It is not a personal weapon," Stojanović said in his defense.
Let the loaded truck pass
Stojanović was charged with criminal offenses of abuse of official position and illegal possession of weapons and explosive materials.
According to the prosecution, he damaged the state coffers by 112.504 euros by abusing his official position.
"From the evidence collected in the reconnaissance and investigation, there is a well-founded suspicion that the defendant, on March 31, 2018, in Podgorica, as an official and a public official, by unlawfully using his official position and authority, obtained material benefits for others and caused damage to others, and the value of the acquired property benefit exceeds the amount of thirty thousand euros, because, in his capacity as director of the Police Administration of Montenegro, who manages its work, and after learning that his friend's truck with cigarettes was stopped in Podgorica without the necessary documentation and with the intention of preventing the police, in accordance with the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Rulebook on the manner of performing certain police tasks and the application of powers in the performance of those tasks, collect notifications from the truck driver, temporarily confiscate the truck and cigarettes from him, in order to secure items that can be used as evidence and submitted a criminal report to the state prosecutor, issued an order for the police to let the driver continue moving with the truck with cigarettes," stated state prosecutor and SDT spokesman Vukas Radonjić earlier in the announcement.
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