Judge of the Special Division of the High Court Vesna Kovačević announced that she will make a trial plan in the case against the former president of the Supreme Court Vesne Medenica, her son Milos Medenica and other defendants for creating a criminal organization, cigarette smuggling, influence on judicial authorities... with the aim of ending the proceedings as soon as possible.
He claims that he will judge the case in the afternoon, after official working hours.
Kovačević answered this to Vijesti two days ago, stating that she will make a trial plan as soon as she gets acquainted with the case files.
"I didn't make a trial plan, but I intend to do so immediately when I get acquainted with the files and when I agree with the members of the council when and how much they can be free and ready to follow my planned pace of finishing the mentioned case, and that is as soon as possible," said Kovačević. .
The files of that case were delivered yesterday to Judge Kovačević, who was assigned the case after it was previously taken away from her colleague. Nadi Rabrenovic.
She clarified that on Friday, December 20, she found out that she was in charge of the files of that case, but that, considering the weekend, it was planned that the case would be handed over to her physically yesterday.
Answering questions from Vijesti, she said that after the New Year and Christmas holidays, she will have information about when the search will be scheduled...
He will also judge after working hours
Judge Kovačević also said that she has not yet decided on the proposal to terminate the custody of Miloš Medenica, with the posting of bail.
"For all the above-mentioned reasons, and the fact that the case has not been handed over to me physically, but I expect it tomorrow, I have not even decided on the proposal for the abolition of custody with the posting of bail, because I need to familiarize myself with the previous decisions of the president of the council Nade Rabrenović, both with the decisions of the Appellate Court and finally with the decisions of the Constitutional Court", she said.
She emphasized that she will do everything to continue the process:
"What I can say for sure is that as the president of the council, I will do everything to continue the proceedings, that I will have a special work plan for this case, which will require additional effort and even afternoon work, bearing in mind that I already have several appointments in advance ( that is, several scheduled main hearings in individual cases) for most of the cases I have in my work and due to the fact that the courtrooms are mostly occupied, and now even until April. I can give you more detailed information, as I already explained after the holidays, when I get to know the files, especially appreciating my current workload in the already scheduled cases that I am continuing, which is about 25 ongoing cases, of which there are also a large number of custody cases ", answered Judge Kovačević.
The Medenice trial was postponed more than 20 times, for various reasons, and the previous president of the council, Nada Rabrenović, has been on sick leave for a long time, which is why the case was taken away from her.
The High Court previously explained that this case was assigned to Judge Kovačević by the method of random case allocation.
"The president of the panel - judge Nada Rabrenović, who is acting in this case, is on long-term sick leave. It is a custody case, and the last hearing in this criminal matter was scheduled for October 3, 10," they said at the time.
The Special State Prosecutor's Office filed an indictment against Vesna Medenica, her son Miloš, Darko Lalović, Vasilij Petrović, Bojana i Marko Popović, Marko Vučinić, Milorad Medenica, Luke Bakoča, Petar Milutinović, Ivan Kovačević, Radomir Raičević, Marjana Bevenje, Steve Karanikić, 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.
Among other things, it is stated 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 officers.
Rabrenović did not even decide on bail
After the case was taken away from Judge Nada Rabrenović, the High Court explained in detail that on April 30, its panel rejected as unfounded the proposal of the defendant Miloš Medenica's lawyer, lawyer Stefan Jovanović, which was submitted on February 15, and which requested the abolition of custody, with giving bail.
"In the meantime, the decision on the proposal of the defense counsel of the accused MM, for the abolition of custody, with the provision of bail, has not yet entered into legal force, and the last decision of the Appellate Court of Montenegro, which abolished the first-instance decision, is Kvsž no. 291/24 of October 2, 10, which was submitted to the High Court in Podgorica for reconsideration on the same day, after which the first-instance court did not make a new decision in the retrial. Bearing in mind that this is a custody case, which is of an urgent nature in accordance with Article 2024 paragraph 174 of the CPC, that the provision of Article 2 of the European Convention guarantees the right to a fair trial within a reasonable time, and that the provision of Article 6 paragraph 36 of the Law on courts, it is stipulated that cases whose urgent nature is prescribed by law can be taken away from the judge if the judge is unable to deal with those cases in a timely manner, i.e. within the legal deadline, it was decided in the specified manner", said the High Court in Podgorica.
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