Although more than half a year has passed since the first-instance acquittal verdict in the "coup d'état" case was announced in the Podgorica High Court, a written response has not yet been written and delivered to the parties in the proceedings.
This is how an independent public relations consultant answered Vijesti's questions: Ivana Vukmirović.
"A verdict has not yet been drawn up in the 'Coup d'Etat' case, taking into account the volume and complexity of the evidence in the case, the number of defendants and the criminal offenses they are charged with, and the scope of work that the president of the panel of judges has to do." Zoran Radovic", serves as the President of the High Court, to which he was elected on May 17, 2024. The public will be informed in a timely manner when the verdict is drafted and sent to the parties, in a short period of time," said Vukmirović.
In a repeated trial in the Podgorica Higher Court, on July 12, 2024, the first-instance verdict acquitted all defendants of the criminal offense of attempted terrorism, namely that on the day of the parliamentary elections, October 16, 2016, they intended to use violence and armed force to storm the Parliament of Montenegro and declare the victory of the Democratic Front.
The president of the special chamber, judge Zoran Radović, said at the time that the allegations in the indictment that the Russians were involved were not confirmed. Eduard Shishmakov i Vladimir Popov, created a criminal organization, that is, out of all the weapons, only two "Lenovo" mobile phones were brought into Montenegro.
This is the epilogue, as announced, of the trial of the century, in which, among others, the then opposition leaders, and now officials of the ruling coalition, were accused. Andrija Mandic i Milan Knezevic.
The trial from the beginning of September 2017 to May 9, 2019, when the first, later overturned, verdict was pronounced, was followed by live television broadcast.
The Court of Appeal overturned the conviction at the time and "planned" to issue an acquittal in a retrial.
With the new verdict, the leaders of the then Democratic Front, Mandić and Knežević, were acquitted of charges of membership in a criminal organization, as were the accused organizers, Russian citizens Šišmakov and Popov...
With the overturned verdict, the two Montenegrin politicians were sentenced to five years in prison each, and the Russians to 15 and 12 years, respectively...
Former commander of the Serbian Gendarmerie Bratislav Dikić was acquitted of the criminal offenses of attempted terrorism by aiding and abetting and creating a criminal organization, as well as Predrag Bogicevic, Nemanja Ristic, Branka Milic, Dragan Maksic, Srboljub Djordjevic, Milan Dusic i Mihailo Čađenović.
Judge Radović then gave a brief explanation of the first-instance, acquittal verdict in the courtroom:
"In order for someone to be found guilty of a criminal offense, there must be certainty regarding the facts that constitute the elements of the criminal offense and which facts are an element of the essence of the criminal offense specified in the operative part of the indictment. There is no such certainty in this specific case, and the court rendered a verdict that the accused are acquitted of the charges because it has not been proven that they committed the criminal offenses for which they are charged by the special prosecutor's office. The path for this court to establish a fair and complete factual situation was facilitated by the decision of the Court of Appeals, which overturned the first verdict and contains precise instructions on how to proceed in the retrial," said Judge Radović.
He then addressed an almost key issue, which is the weapons, which never entered Montenegro, but were located in a rented house of a police officer at the Old Airport, which was filmed by one of the first defendants, Mirko Velimirović, after entering Montenegro on October 12, 2016, and after going to the office of special prosecutor Milivoje Katnić.
"That recording was reviewed in the courtroom, and the court, prosecutors, defendants, their defense, and the public were able to see grotesque scenes when Mirko Velimirović enters that room and tries to record the weapon taken from the police in a clumsy way. From the sidelines, the voices of members of the Special Police Department could be heard, suggesting to the confused man what to do. According to this court's findings, it has not been proven that Mirko Velimirović bought the weapon from a certain person Fadilj in Mokra Gora and that, according to Katnić's previous instructions, he disassembled it and threw it into Lake Gazivode. He could not describe where that lake was located, nor did he know how he carried out that action. Mokra Gora is a huge mountain with a huge area, so it is incredible for the court that Velimirović found Fadilj there without any prior agreement with someone and without telephone communication. It is like looking for a needle in a haystack," said Radović.
He also spoke in detail about the departure of cooperating witness Saša Sinđelić to Moscow on September 27, 2016:
"Saša Sinđelić provides a detailed description with a series of the smallest details that are characteristic of a learned statement, whereby when asked by the defense, he was unable to describe the SDT building. From the letter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation dated September 5, 2018, the authenticity of which is beyond doubt, it is established that on September 27, 2016, Sinđelić flew from Belgrade to Sheremetyevo Airport on an international flight, on which occasion he did not cross the state customs border of the Russian Federation - that is, he did not pass through either passport or customs control. On the same day, he flew from transit to Belgrade. When asked by the defense at a hearing, Sinđelić allowed the possibility that he was sitting in an area corresponding to transit, which is completely contrary to his statement that he was taken through a corridor, bypassing passport control."
The judge said that the equipment that, according to the indictment, was supposed to be used to enter the Parliament of Montenegro and other institutions, and which Saša Sinđelić handed over to the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs on October 25, 2016, was not transferred to Montenegro.
"In the recording of the surrender, Sinđelić can be heard saying that this is equipment that he normally sells at the flea market and it is indisputable that he is involved in this. Therefore, neither the equipment nor the weapons were brought into Montenegro, and the weapons that were filmed in the rented house at the Old Airport were used by the investigating judge, at the request of the competent Special Prosecutor's Office, to issue an order for the implementation of secret surveillance measures. The evidence presented further established that members of the Special Unit, which according to the indictment was supposed to take over the weapons in Montenegro, shot at members of the Montenegrin police and entered and occupied the building of the Parliament of Montenegro and other institutions, arrested the Prime Minister of Montenegro Milo Đukanović, declared the victory of the opposition, in which the accused Mandić and Knežević would have played an active role, were actually in the area of Zlatibor and Čajetina the day before and on the day of the parliamentary elections, and it has not been proven that the act of committing an attempted terrorism on the territory of Montenegro had begun. "In order for it to be an attempted crime, and there is a completed and incomplete attempt, the act of commission must have begun, and the consequence must be absent after the execution has been undertaken, or for some reason the execution has not been completed. All of these acts listed in the indictment are preparatory acts for terrorism, so it has not been proven that the act of commission has begun, because of all that vast amount of weapons and equipment, the only thing that was brought into Montenegro were two Lenovo phones," Radović explained at the time.
The organizer stands aside...
When we talk about the criminal offense of creating a criminal organization in relation to Vladimir Popov, who is charged with organizing a criminal organization together with Šišmakov, it is established from all the evidence presented that this man appears several times, stands on the sidelines as some kind of security, so it has absolutely not been proven that he is the organizer of the criminal organization, Radović explained when pronouncing the first-instance verdict.
He said that, according to the indictment, Dikić also had a plan to act on the orders of the organizers of the criminal organization, but that he never had any contact with them, of any kind...
"From the statements of Sinđelić and Velimirović, it is established that Dikić did not know about any weapons nor did he have any communication with any member of this criminal organization, as presented in the indictment, nor with those people who came to Montenegro from Serbia. His emotional partner Kristina Hristic also came to Montenegro with him, whom the Special Prosecution accused of arranging meetings between other members as a member of the criminal organization and of communicating with Sinđelić and Mirko Velimirović from her mobile phone for the needs of the accused Dikić. In order for someone to take these actions, they must have the awareness and will to do so. It is obvious from her defense and Dikić that she absolutely did not know and simply gave him the phone by pressing a button, and the message went to Mirko Velimirović during their trip from Bar to Podgorica. This exhausts her entire role," the judge concluded.
Bonus video:
