The court sent back the indictment against the police officers accused of torture for amendment: Was there a lot of pain for the victims

The Basic Court in Cetinje sent back the indictment against eight policemen, accused of having exceeded their official authority and illegally used chemical and coercive means against citizens during the security of the enthronement ceremony of the head of the Montenegrin Littoral Metropolitanate (MCP) Joaniki in September 2021.

The prosecutor's office there filed an indictment against Dragiša Mugoša, Baja Varajić, Ljubiša Bajović, Dragoslav Stanišić, Nedeljko Marković, Dragomir Vlahović, Vladan Nedović and Srđan Janić for the criminal offense of torture.

In the court decision, the prosecutor's office is called upon to supplement the indictment with a medical expert's report in order to establish whether the described physical injuries of the victims were accompanied by great pain, that is, severe suffering...

"And this bearing in mind that great pain or severe suffering is a qualifying circumstance for the criminal act in question," the document states.

It also says that it is necessary to clarify, that is, to describe what the passive resistance of the injured parties consisted of and what the weather conditions were like on the critical occasion:

"Whether and what influence they had when using chemical agents that are transmitted by air on the resulting consequences, and indicate the specific provisions of the corresponding regulation, which prohibits the use of 'rubber bullets', given that the accused are charged with using them." it is stated among other things.

One of the legal representatives of the accused, lawyer Ranko Radonjić, said that the Basic Court in Cetinje had more than enough elements to suspend the proceedings in the indictment control phase.

Despite this, he said that he was also satisfied with the fact that the indictment was sent back to supplement the investigation.

"It is an indicator of the correctness of our argumentation that we presented to the president of the court at the hearing and I really believe that, after acting on the orders from this decision, the prosecution will just put an end to this procedure by passing a decision on the suspension of the investigation. If he does not do that, I have no doubt that the court will do it during the next inspection, because the people who are in the indictment really did not do anything illegal, on the contrary. That is obvious and time will tell," he told Vijesti.