SKY legal evidence in Croatia with a final judgment

The final verdict confirmed the earlier decision of the investigative judge of the Split County Court, who in February declared the evidence collected by USKOK to be legal based on the analysis of the communication conducted via the encrypted SKY ECC application by members of the international organization led by the arrested construction entrepreneur Nenad Petrak from Zagreb. and who also worked closely with the Montenegrin blacksmith clan

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Illustration, Photo: Shutterstock
Illustration, Photo: Shutterstock
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

The High Criminal Court in Croatia issued a final verdict confirming that SKY communication is legal evidence, which can be used in criminal proceedings in the judicial system there.

According to Slobodna Dalmacija, the final verdict of the High Criminal Court has finally taken a legal position on the issue that has been bothering all those who are behind bars in Croatia as part of various criminal organizations, and who were arrested after the analysis of communications conducted through the encrypted SKY ECC application. .

"All of them hoped that the evidence collected by USKOK based on the analysis of the communication conducted by the members through the encrypted SKY ECC application, which was obtained by means of European investigative orders from the French authorities, would be declared illegal," writes Slobodna Dalmacija.

The final verdict confirmed the earlier decision of the investigating judge of the Split County Court, who in February of this year declared the evidence collected by USKOK to be legal based on the analysis of the communication conducted by members of the international organization led by the arrested construction entrepreneur Nenad from Zagreb via the encrypted SKY ECC application. Petrak, who also worked closely with the Montenegrin Kavak clan.

After passing a final verdict that SKY is legal evidence, last week USKOK filed an indictment against the criminal organization Nenad Petrak, who was arrested in Turkey at the end of last year, and then extradited to the Croatian authorities.

USKOK submitted an indictment to the County Court in Split, which is based for the most part on the basis of hacked, coded SKY conversations of members of Petrak's group, which are now legally binding evidence in Croatia, and which was brought against another 24 Croatian citizens, who are charged with smuggling at least 2,3 tons of cocaine, marijuana and hashish.

It is the first legally binding judgment of the countries of the region that SKY is legal evidence, and after the European Court of Justice ruled at the end of April this year on the use of the SKY application in court proceedings, when they rejected the possibility of using information obtained from encrypted applications if they were not supported by other evidence. .

The Supreme State Prosecutor's Office of Montenegro, a few days after the decision of the European Court, announced that the decision does not call into question the validity and legality of SKY communication as evidence, but that the ruling interprets the provisions of Directive 14/41, which regulates the application of the European Investigation Order in EU countries .

The USKOK indictment charges the defendants with having, from November 25, 2019 to February 3, 2023, in the territory of Croatia, Montenegro, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia and Sierra Leone, joined together in joint action for the continuous procurement of large quantities of cocaine, marijuana and hashish, as well as smuggling, transportation and sale in EU member states.

The indictment states that Petrak's group managed to resell at least 342,8 kilograms of cocaine worth 14,2 million euros, 450 kilograms of marijuana, 77 kilograms of hashish...

According to the Croatian media, Nenad Petrak is in the Split prison in Bilice, and the indictment charges him, among other things, with buying large quantities of marijuana in Montenegro, issuing orders to four members of the OKG to collect, store and sell the drug to customers. .

"Montenegrins are difficult to negotiate, so we all have to stick to the plan," Petrak said to his interlocutor under the username ESJTJ5, whom investigators suspect is the accused Vlad Brkić from Zagreb.

USKOK states that the term "Montenegros" refers to members of the Kavac clan, whose leader is the fugitive Radoje Zvicer.

"The police and USKOK also reconstructed the conversations, and the investigators suspect that the "guy from Split" is Brkić, and Žuti, on the other hand, is the head of the Kavac clan, Radoje Zvicer, who has been unsuccessfully sought by Interpol for years," Croatian media say.

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