As the trial against the former President of the Supreme Court of Montenegro, Vesna Medenica, and the other defendants started over due to a change in the composition of the panel, she presented her defense again today at the Higher Court in Podgorica.
She stuck to her previously stated defense. She denied the allegations in the indictment, emphasizing that she was not a criminal. She reiterated that the accusations against her were politically motivated and that she had been labeled by the media and politically as evidence of her struggle against a regime.
"This courtroom is the past, present and future for me. Before you is someone who has spent 40 years in the judiciary. At no point is it in my interest for this process to be delayed, because I do not intend to end my life trying to prove my innocence and have something God-given to prevent me from doing so," Medenica stressed.
She added that the case files contain extensive documentation that speaks to her health condition and the fact that she makes great efforts to attend hearings.
"It's been almost three years since I was deprived of my freedom, as a symbol of a bad Montenegro. I was marked in the media and politically as evidence of the fight against a regime, according to them criminal, and it's no coincidence that it was me," said Medenica.
At the previous main hearing on March 17, the statement of the defendant Vasilije Petrović, charged with the criminal offense of inducing unlawful influence, was read. During the investigation before the SDT, he said that on two occasions he gave Nikola Raičević 125.000 euros each to take to Miloš and Vesna Medenica, so that they would 'finish' the case that "Cijevna komerc" had before the Supreme Court of Montenegro.
Referring to Petrovc's defense, Vesna Medenica stated in court today:
"Vesna Medenica had no reason to take a single euro from anyone and sully her face because her face is sacred."
She reiterated that she had never influenced any judge and denied the allegations of the accused Vaslije Petrović that money was forwarded to her.
"If I see a dinar, I have three grandchildren, I will bury them with that money," said Medenica.
She added that she committed a crime so that this would not be a dock of accusation, but a dock of shame.
"The more the media criminalized and discredited me, the further away I became from the Constitution and the law," Medenica said.
In her defense, she stated that this courtroom is her past, present, and future, telling Judge Vesna Kovačević that she is a 68-year-old woman who has spent 40 years in the judiciary and 36 years in various judgeships.
"You know my biography and I'm not talking about it to fascinate you, but to show you that it is not in my interest to delay the proceedings because I don't want to end my life to prove my innocence and be prevented from doing so by something given by God," Medenica said.
She added that politics is behind all this and commented on the failure to lift the detention of her son Miloš Medenica. She stated that she knows that there is something other than the law behind the detention in which her son is being held.
"Let me say that my son is in custody because his mother is Vesna Medenica. Bail has been on the table for a year and a half. Two decisions by the Constitutional Court, three by the Appellate Court. What disappointed me about you as a professional is that the overriding public interest is that my son is in custody. Why is the law not being applied to him? I support your courage to respect the law, I encourage you," said Medenica in her address to the president of the special council, Vesna Kovačević.
Medenica indicated that her movement is restricted and that she must report to the police every 15 days. She stated that her friends and godparents have died, but that she could not go to pay her respects because her movement is restricted despite the decisions of the Constitutional Court which stated that her right to movement has been violated.
Medenica also pointed out that Judge Kovačević acted in her case several times when deciding on the restriction of movement measures. According to the defendant, everything is intertwined and she does not know if there are any new rules here, asking if she is free due to the good will of the court.
"I also ask whether the course of the proceedings depends on someone's will, the portal and those who channeled this entire process," said Medenica, emphasizing that she knows Judge Kovačević as a professional.
Vesna Medenica specifically emphasized that she is not a criminal, and that she comes from a wealthy family and married into a wealthy family.
She also pointed out that she received half a million euros from her father and that all the hotels in the Kolašin ravine are on her land.
The Special State Prosecutor's Office filed an indictment against the defendants Miloš and Vesna Medenica, Darko Lalović, Vasilij Petrović, Bojan and Marko Popović, Marko Vučinić, Milorad Medenica, Luka Bakoč, Petar Milutinović, Ivana Kovačević, Radomir Raičević, Marjan Bevenja, Stevo Karanikić and Goran Jovanović. and the company "Kopad Company", for criminal acts - creation of a criminal organization, smuggling, giving and receiving bribes, illegal influence and inducing illegal influence, abuse of official position, drug smuggling, illegal possession of weapons, causing serious bodily harm and preventing evidence.
Miloš Medenica is accused of having created a criminal organization in 2019, whose members included his mother Vesna and other defendants, with the aim of smuggling cigarettes and illegally influencing the judiciary, in order to gain illegal profit and power. It is alleged that, in complicity with the defendant members of the criminal organization, he smuggled cigarettes from the Free Customs Zone of the Port of Bar, avoiding customs supervision measures, using false documentation and bribing customs officials.
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