The trial of the defendants for the murders of Nemanja Prelević (28) and Danilo Peković (20) in Veruša on October 17, 2020, for which Marko Zekić and eight other people are accused, continued today at the Higher Court in Podgorica.
The messages exchanged between the defendants on the Sky app were read.
The defense had objections to the manner in which this evidence was presented. The defendants' defense attorneys then requested the disqualification of the president of the special panel, Judge Vesna Kovačević, as well as the entire panel.
After a break that lasted about an hour, the President of the Higher Court Zoran Radović rejected the defense's motion to disqualify Judge Kovačević from the panel.
The main trial hearing was postponed today because the defendant Mirčeta Mihailović canceled the power of attorney for his defense attorney Milan Kovačević. The next main trial is scheduled for March 12th.
Attorney Stefan Jovanović, defense attorney for defendant Marko Zekić, explained the reasons for the disqualification in a statement to the media.
"The result of the request for disqualification is an action that the defense attorneys characterized as something that is not in accordance with the procedural rules that the legislator had in mind when prescribing the procedural rules. The Sky Communications evidence is presented in a manner that is unacceptable to the defense and that, according to the defense, represents a violation of the rights of the defendants. For this reason, the disqualification of the entire panel was requested. However, the decision of the president of the court is that such a request is unfounded. It is obvious that what the defense attorneys emphasized is crystallizing, that in these trials in which there is that deadline, pressure takes its toll. We warned that some procedural errors may occur in those procedural steps. The question is what they lead to. They lead to a decision being made that will probably suffer from certain shortcomings, and upon appeals everything will be returned to some initial stage, or to a new procedure. Maybe I am prejudiced, but we definitely have a race against time to complete the procedure within the given deadline, all to the detriment of the defendants' right to defense. "The court keeps the pace as long as the prosecution dictates. All of these cases have something that led to the long duration of the process," Jovanović pointed out.
He added that "when we talk about the specific case, the SDT did not propose a trial in absentia for one defendant."
"We lost several dates. That is not the court's fault. But the smallest mistake was made by the defense attorneys, and definitely not by the accused. From the actions taken so far, it can be easily concluded that the defense is not obstructing. The evidence is being presented in an unacceptable manner. Why is it being done that way? My conviction is that there is a rush. There is a rush because of the deadline that exists, and I am sure that this rush cannot bring anything good. If the point is to reach a verdict for the sake of order so that the defendants do not leave custody, the question arises as to how good it is," said Jovanović.
He said that this is a case where there is absolutely no material evidence to confirm what is stated in the indictment.
"We have Sky communication, which is offered in terms of evidence, and beyond that, there is absolutely nothing," Jovanović emphasized.
Lawyer Miloš Vuksanović told reporters that the epilogue of this way of presenting evidence was that one of the defendants canceled his power of attorney for his defense attorneys.
"Not seeing the purpose of their further actions as his defense attorneys in this criminal proceeding. When the defense proposes something meaningful in favor of the defense of the defendants, it feels like it is stealing something. And it has a constant pang of conscience that someone will accuse us of scuttling this proceeding. At all costs, they want to end the criminal proceeding and even knowingly commit significant violations of the provisions of criminal procedure just to make it to three years. That makes no sense. It is no longer a criminal proceeding but a frantic race against time that does not resemble a normal process," Vuksanović pointed out.
The Special State Prosecutor's Office filed an indictment on May 13, 2022. If a first-instance verdict is not issued by May 13, 2025, the defendants who are in custody will be released to defend themselves from freedom in the further proceedings. In addition to Zekić, the accused are Miomir Đukić, Dragan Biletić, Vasilije Đukić, Mirčeta Mihailović, Nenad Miličić, Goran Milašinović, Branislav Ivanović and Dragan Tarić. According to the evidence collected, Marko Zekić, Vasilije Đukić and Mihailović together killed Prelević and Peković in the town of Uvač on October 17, 2020, with intent and by prior agreement.
Milašinović, Biletić, Ivanović and Miličić assisted in the serious murder of two Podgorica residents by deliberately creating conditions and removing obstacles. The task of part of the group was to monitor the movement of Prelević and Peković in order to determine the most favorable place and time for their liquidation.
"After they found out that the targets would be in Prelević's house in the town of Uvač on October 17, they communicated that information to Zekić, Đukić and Mirčeta Mihailović, who headed to Veruša," the indictment reads. It is added that Mirčeta Mihailović handed over an automatic rifle and a pistol to Zekić and Đukić, who, after a brief discussion at the door of the cottage, killed Prelević by firing several projectiles into his head and upper body. After killing Prelević, they entered the cottage and killed Peković. Transcripts of the Sky application used by members of this criminal organization revealed that the murder of Prelevic and Pekovic was planned several months earlier. "Marko Zekić from Beran had a physical confrontation with Nemanja Prelević in a bar in Podgorica, after which he made the decision to kill him, so he informed the other members of the criminal organization he founded," the indictment states, among other things.
In the explanation of the indictment, it is written that, according to evidence from France, Zekić informed the other defendants about the conflict he had in a Podgorica bar, through the Sky application, and told them that he had made the decision to kill Prelevic.
"From further communications from August 05.08.2020, XNUMX, Zekić announces that he made the decision to take the life of Nemanja Prelevic precisely because of the fight he had with him and with Vladimir Bajčeta and Marinka Banović in the restaurant. In those messages, Zekić states that he is with had a gun that he had left and at the same time inquires with other defendants where Prelevic lives, what vehicle he drives, and where his house is located, i.e. what is the street where the victim's house is located," the indictment explains.
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