The Police Directorate (PD) cannot publicly release information about the mass murder that occurred in Cetinje on January 1st without the approval of the State Prosecutor's Office, which is managing investigative measures and actions, as well as the entire criminal investigation, the PD announced.
They said that, as a reliable partner in the community, they will "transparently, objectively and impartially, in accordance with the law, gradually inform the public about specific facts that are of public interest on the one hand, and on the other hand, respecting the limitations of a criminal investigation."
"In order to avoid the impression that certain facts are not being verified or, as the notice emphasizes: 'that it is perceived as obstruction', the Police Directorate answered most of the questions publicly through phased reporting to the entire Montenegrin public, while some of the questions, for which there are legal restrictions, were not answered publicly. The answers were incorporated and submitted in the information to the Council for Civilian Control of Police Work and the Department for Internal Control of the Police," the statement reads.
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"Also, this information is not final because it is a complex and intricate criminal investigation, led by the Senior State Prosecutor of the Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica, Andrijana Nastic. Cases that have been designated for procedural and forensic analysis cannot be communicated in their entirety by the Police Directorate, but part of the answers to questions can be requested from the prosecutorial organization because the Police Directorate is not the only address for obtaining all information, which, as you know, we selflessly distribute and share with citizens," the UP stated.
They said that, taking into account the interest related to the means of committing the crime – the pistol, checks were carried out in the records held by the Police Directorate and it was determined that it was not in the records of stolen or missing weapons.
"Responses were requested from an intelligence-security sector body to conduct adequate checks on their records and information was requested through international operational police cooperation," it added.
They said that determining the chronology of the origin of these weapons, from the manufacturer to the end user, requires a series of measures and actions that are currently underway, the public release of which would jeopardize that part of the investigation.
"Regarding the second question, which refers to whether an expert examination of the murderer's phone was carried out and with whom he was in contact at the time of the crime, we inform you that during the activity itself, special and investigative measures and actions were taken in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Code. The mobile phones that were found during the search of the facility, in accordance with the obtained order of the acting prosecutor, were delivered to the Forensic Center for the necessary expert examinations. The Police Directorate cannot announce the outcome of the procedural actions because they were ordered by the acting prosecutor Andrijana Nastić, and the complete material evidence and expert examination reports will be delivered to the state prosecutor," the statement reads.
"The Police Department remains open to answering all questions, to the extent possible and in accordance with the law, in order to determine all circumstances that would lead to the clarification of this serious criminal offense, which was committed in Cetinje on January 1," the Police Department said.
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