Miloš Kulić, accused of smuggling around 60 kilograms of cocaine on the ship "Jadran", said that the statement he gave before the Special State Prosecutor's Office "was given under psychological and physical torture".
In the continuation of the cocaine smuggling trial at the Higher Court in Podgorica, he also said that everything he said in his statement before the SDT "was not true." Kulić gave his defense before a special panel presided over by judge Zoran Radović.
In the proceedings so far, Kulić had the status of a cooperating witness, but after he was absent from his statement at the previous main trial, he lost that status.
Then the SDT filed an indictment against him as well.
Kulić said in his defense that he did not admit committing the criminal offense and that he did not admit guilt.
"The statement I gave before the SDT was given under psychological and physical torture. Everything I said in that statement is not true. On the day I was arrested, I was first put on a polygraph. After that, three or four inspectors interrogated me. There was psychological and physical mistreatment. Then the police returned me to the training ship 'Jadran', where the military police placed me in a room until the next day, approximately until the afternoon. Then they took me to the Special Police Department. Other inspectors were in the SPO, who interrogated me, and prosecutor Saša Čađenović came. And there I was subjected to psychological and physical mistreatment. That lasted quite a while, until maybe 22 p.m.," Kulić said before the court today.
He added that the inspectors told him that a murder had occurred that day in Kotor.
"They told me that a gun found on Opatovo would be planted on me and that they would accuse me of being an accomplice in the murder. They mentioned my family and said that it would be destroyed. They told me to say that the drugs found on the ship 'Jadran' belonged to one of the criminal clans. When they said they would plant it on me, I was mentally exhausted and that's why I gave the statement that I had previously given to the SDT," Kuulić said in his defense.
Responding to questions from his defense attorney, Dragan Mitrić, Kulić said that the SPO slapped him, strangled him, and used an electric shocker on his body.
"The inspectors who took my statement at the SPO were correct. But they got lost somewhere and there were others who entered the room, they abused me. These people who entered that room, and among them was prosecutor Saša Čađenović, influenced me to give the statement I gave at the SDT," Kulić claims.
Judge Radović then read the statement he gave before the SDT on April 20, 2019. In that statement, Kulić stated, among other things, that he was employed in the Navy of the Army of Montenegro.
"Regarding what I am accused of, I can say that it is true. Regarding the drugs in question that were found on the ship 'Jadran', I previously spoke and had meetings with Dejan Rovčanin and Vladimir Račić," his statement to the SDT states.
He added at the time that he was asked to transport 55 kilograms of cocaine to Istanbul via the ship "Jadran", and to bring heroin to Tivat on the same ship. He said that he asked for 1.000 euros per kilogram for this, and that he was offered 800 euros per kilogram. He added at the time that in addition to the drugs, he was also asked to transport two pistols. He admitted that he had left a certain amount of drugs at the Opatovo military facility and that it was not his drugs but from the accused Osmajić, who asked him to keep them.
"I want you to consider the possibility of granting me the status of a cooperating witness," Kulić said in his earlier statement, which was read out today by Judge Radović at the main trial.
The defense and the accused challenged the statement Kulić gave before the SDT in April 2019. Attorney Marko Radović pointed out that this statement cannot be evidence because the accused and their defense attorneys were not able to ask Kulić questions at that time during the investigation.
By decision of the pre-trial chamber, the "Jadran" case was merged with another indictment in which Miloš Kulić and Dejan Rovčanin were accused.
The Special State Prosecutor's Office filed an indictment against Kulić, who lost his status as a cooperating witness in this court proceeding.
The special prosecutor's indictment states that Vladimir M. Račić, who is on the run, Dejan D. Rovčanin, Duško V. Radenović, Radomir R. Osmajić and Vojin M. Stupar are accused of smuggling around 60 kilograms of cocaine. According to the indictment, in order to implement the criminal plan, the defendant Duško Radenović together with Miloš Kulić, a senior sergeant in the Navy of Montenegro, who was designated as an accomplice witness by the decision of the High Court in Podgorica, on April 17, 2019, according to a previous agreement, with I intend to encourage the defendants Račić and Rovčanin to commit a criminal act.
The defendants Račić and Stupar, as co-perpetrators, committed the criminal offense of unauthorized production, possession and distribution of narcotic drugs in conjunction with illegal possession of weapons, while Radenović also committed the same criminal offences. The defendants Račić and Rovčanin committed the criminal offense of creating a criminal organization under Article 401 a, paragraph 1, and the defendants Radenović, Osmajić and Stupar committed the crime of creating a criminal organization under Article 401 a, paragraph 2 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro.
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