The trial of Slavko Stojanović, the former director of the Police Administration, continued today with the hearing of witnesses in the High Court in Podgorica.
Former assistant director of the Police Administration, Enis Baković, testified that the event in question regarding cigarette smuggling took place on March 31, 2018.
"Director Slavko Stojanović called me and said that a truck was stopped on the territory of Podgorica, that SDT and SPO are doing it, and that I should send a colleague to do only a visual inspection and to let it go, so that the action does not 'break in'," Baković said. .
He added that he called his colleague Saša Milić and directed him to the location where the truck is, to follow the instructions given by Stojanović.
Baković stated that after this event, on that day, a double murder took place in Podgorica, on the square, and that all the forces of the criminal police were involved in that case. He added that during that period, in which the incident involving the truck with cigarettes took place, he had no cooperation with the SPO and that he did not communicate with them.
After Baković testified in court, Stojanović publicly apologized to him, as his assistant at the time.
"I would like to use the opportunity to publicly apologize to Enis Baković. I abused his trust and put him in an unpleasant situation," Stojanović said.
Baković said that he accepts the apology even though he could neither be guilty nor obliged to end up in prison.
The witness, police officer Saša Milić, said that Baković called him. He stated that at that time Baković told him that Stojanović had said that the truck should be missed and that everything was fine and that the action was being taken by the SPO.
He added that later rumors reached him that his colleague Živković made an official note in which he stated that he had missed the truck. He said that this was not true, that he acted on the orders of Baković, that is, Stojanović.
The witness, police officer Darko Milonjić, stated that during that period he worked in the Intervention Police. Their duty was to ensure the moving of the truck, so his superior ordered that he be in the passenger seat of the truck, in order to have full control.
"One police vehicle was in front of the truck, the Intervention Unit behind. We left the truck at the extension with colleagues who took over the responsibility," said the witness and added that when it comes to this kind of situation, they as the Intervention Unit do not search the cargo, but the sector that is superior for it.
Milonjić said that one part of the tarpaulin on the loading part of the truck was twisted and that's how they saw that cigarettes were loaded on one part, and beer packaging on the other.
In his defense, Stojanović said, at the trial held in mid-September, that he pleaded guilty to the crime of abuse of office, that is, in connection with the smuggling of cigarettes that were found in the truck. He pleaded not guilty to illegal possession of a gun.
Stojanović was charged with criminal offenses of abuse of official position and illegal possession of weapons and explosive materials. It is suspected that 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.
Bonus video:
