Correspondence from the once protected Sky application is considered digital evidence, or documents in electronic form, which is in accordance with the Criminal Code of Montenegro.
This was explained by the judge rapporteur in the courtroom of the Court of Appeal two days ago. Zorica Milanović, delivering a verdict in the case in which a Nikšić resident Darko Janjic is responsible for the creation of a criminal organization and the continued criminal offense of unauthorized production, possession and distribution of narcotic drugs.
"The subject of the Special State Prosecutor's Office's request was the submission of evidence - electronic communications, in a form that can be used before a criminal court, so this court determined that the obtained evidence is considered, by legal nature, digital evidence - documents in electronic form, obtained through international legal assistance, where it should be noted that Montenegrin legislation does not specifically define digital evidence, but they can be classified as documents in electronic form, bearing in mind Article 142, paragraph 29 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro, which stipulates that computer data is also considered a document," explained Judge Milanović two days ago in the courtroom of the Court of Appeal.
On that day, the Appellate Court panel announced for the first time that transcripts from the once-protected Sky app were legally valid evidence, and the first conviction was handed down before that court.
Their decision increased Janjić's sentence from three years and eight months, which was previously imposed by the Higher Court panel, to five years.
"In accordance with the rules of procedural legislation, i.e. Article 355, paragraph 1 of the Criminal Procedure Code, among other evidence, evidence in the form of documents is read at the main hearing in order to determine their content, and since in this case we are dealing with documents in electronic form, which in addition to written texts also contain photographs and voice messages, these documents were read before the court in the case of text messages, or rather listened to, and the photographs were inspected," explained Judge Milanović in the courtroom.
On Friday, March 21, after reading the decision, the Court of Appeal announced that Sky Communications represented legally valid evidence:
"Because, in the opinion of this court, it was obtained in a lawful manner through international legal assistance in criminal matters, in accordance with the applicable regulations of the Republic of France and based on a decision of the competent judicial authority of that country, which is in accordance with the provisions of the European Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters of 20 April 4 and the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime of 1959 December 15, which, pursuant to Article 12 of the Constitution of Montenegro, constitute an integral part of the internal legal order and have primacy over domestic legislation," they announced after the announcement of the verdict from the Court of Appeal.
"This court considers that the accused and his defense attorneys were given a real opportunity to respond to the evidence presented by SKY Communications in an adversarial proceeding before the first and second instance courts, to challenge the credibility of the evidence, oppose its use, and present their arguments, which they did, but in the opinion of this court, they did not cast doubt on the credibility of this evidence," the statement reads.
Janjić was found guilty of the criminal offense of creating a criminal organization and the criminal offense of unauthorized production, possession and distribution of narcotic drugs.
"The decision was made and publicly announced after a hearing before the Court of Appeals in the process of deciding on the appeals of the defendant's defense attorney and the Special State Prosecutor's Office, filed against the first-instance verdict by which the defendant was sentenced to a single prison sentence of three years and eight months for the criminal offense of creating a criminal organization and the extended criminal offense of unauthorized production, possession and distribution of narcotic drugs," the statement reads.
At the beginning of the year, the Court of Appeal decided to open a hearing in the case against Janjić before that court.
This decision followed appeals against the re-verdict of the Higher Court in Podgorica, which sentenced Janjić to three years and eight months in prison in October 2024.
Previously, judges of the Court of Appeal at the end of August last year overturned the first-instance verdict based on evidence from Sky Communications, arguing that there were no clear and valid reasons regarding its admissibility.
They did this by accepting the appeal of Janjić's defense attorney, lawyer Branko Anđelić.
The subject of the Special State Prosecutor's Office's request was the submission of evidence - electronic communications, in a form that can be used before a criminal court, so this court determined that the evidence obtained was considered digital evidence by legal nature.
The Court of Appeal then ordered a retrial and a thorough analysis of all evidence, but the High Court judges reiterated the decision.
Correspondence from the Sky application was used as evidence, through which, according to the claims of the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT), Janjić communicated directly with one of the organizers of the criminal group. Radovan Mujović and among other things informed him about the movements and habits of his fellow citizen Željko Radulović.
The alleged member of the Kavač clan targeted his son Ranko Radulović who, according to police operational data, closely cooperates with the Skaljari clan.
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