In the High Court in Podgorica, the trial of the former President of the Supreme Court Vesna Medenica and the other defendants was postponed again today.
Defense lawyers requested the exemption of special state prosecutors Vukas Radonjić and Jovan Vukotić because, as they believe, they are violating the right to defend the defendants.
Lawyer Miloš Vuksanović requested an exemption, and fellow lawyers agreed with him. Lawyer Damir Lekić also requested the exemption of the chief special prosecutor Vladimir Novović in deciding on the exemption of special prosecutors Vukotić and Radonjić.
At the beginning of the hearing of the main trial, attorney Vuksanović sent a request to the court to postpone the hearing until the investigative procedure against Nikola Raičević is completed. That defendant was unavailable to the competent authorities. He is now in custody, while the investigation against him has not yet been completed.
Vuksanović stated that, according to previous court practice, if the prosecution raises an indictment against Raičević, it will be confirmed, although he, as a defense attorney, believes that there is no basis for it.
The defense lawyers agreed with him, explaining that if that indictment is confirmed, care should also be taken to merge that proceeding with this one.
They believe that if the cases are not joined, then the right to defense is violated, because the accused from this case will be witnesses in the case against Raičević and vice versa.
The Special State Prosecutor's Office filed an indictment against the defendants Miloš and Vesna Medenica, Darko Lalović, Vasilij Petrović, Bojan and Marko Popović, Marko Vučinić, Milorad Medenica, Luka Bakoč, Petar Milutinović, Ivana Kovačević, Radomir Raičević, Marjan Bevenja, Stevo Karanikić and Goran Jovanović. and the company "Kopad Company", for criminal acts - creation of a criminal organization, smuggling, giving and receiving bribes, illegal influence and inducing illegal influence, abuse of official position, drug smuggling, illegal possession of weapons, causing serious bodily harm and preventing evidence.
Miloš Medenica is accused of having created a criminal organization in 2019, whose members were his mother Vesna and other defendants, with the aim of smuggling cigarettes and illegally influencing the judicial authorities, and for the purpose of acquiring illegal profits and power.
It is alleged that, in co-perpetration with the accused members of a criminal organization, he smuggled cigarettes from the Free Customs Zone of the port of Bar, avoiding the measures of customs supervision, with the help of false documents and paying bribes to customs officials.
Bonus video:
