The Council of the Higher Court in Podgorica confirmed the first indictment, where the charges of the Special State Prosecutor's Office are based, among other things, on data collected with the Ana application.
The indictment was confirmed in the case involving Milan Janković, Toni Junčaj, Darko Vukčević, Božidar Vukčević, Slađan Đinović, Spasoje Zlatičanin, Alen Đoljević, Filip Krstonijević, Milan Milović, Anton Ljucđonaj and Nikolia Pepaj.
The SDT stated in a statement that the panel of the Higher Court in Podgorica, by decision Kvso No. 29/24, dated March 24 this year, confirmed the indictment Kt-S No. 226/23, dated September 4 last year, which the Special State Prosecutor's Office filed against the accused.
"The indictment against MJ, TJ, DV, BV, S.Đ., SZ, A.Đ., FK, MM, A.Lj. and NP was filed for the criminal offense of creating a criminal organization, organized for the purpose of smuggling narcotics in Montenegro, neighboring countries and European Union countries, against the accused MJ, A.Lj., NP and A.Đ., and for the criminal offenses of unauthorized production, possession and distribution of narcotics, and against the accused MM and for the criminal offenses of unauthorized possession of weapons and explosives, and aggravated murder by incitement," the statement reads.
This indictment has been under legal dispute for months between the SDT and the Higher Court in Podgorica, which, after reviewing the document, initially issued a decision to remove the USB memory stick containing communication with the encrypted application Ana from the file as legally invalid evidence.
The SDT appealed against such a decision, and the Court of Appeal determined that the first-instance decision was made in violation of the provisions of criminal procedure, because the Higher Court panel gave reasons that were "unclear and incomprehensible" and mutually contradictory..., which is why the contested decision had to be overturned...
Despite this, the Higher Court in Podgorica again ruled on January 21 that their decision was not premature, and that during the review of the indictment they must make a decision on the merits, in which they consider that the evidence from Anoma is not legally valid evidence.
This was followed by a new appeal by the SDT and a decision by the Court of Appeal, and the decision of the Federal Court of Justice of Germany was also important for confirming the indictment, which ruled in January that the collection of evidence through the Anom application was legitimate, because it served exclusively for the purpose of investigating serious crimes.
Anom was a phone communication application, which was created as part of an international police operation to combat organized crime.
It was initially presented as a security platform for encrypted communication, similar to applications like EncroChat or Sky ECC, which were popular among criminal organizations.
Anom, however, was unique in that it was secretly developed by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Australian police as part of Operation Trojan Shield, and was pre-installed on custom phones with no other functionality (such as calls or plain text messages) and distributed through criminal networks. network through confidential sources.
What does the indictment say?
According to the indictment, during 2021 and 2022, the defendants Janković and Junčaj organized a criminal organization on the territory of Montenegro, Albania, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Austria and the Netherlands to commit criminal offenses punishable by four years in prison or a more severe punishment, with the aim of acquiring illegal profit and power.
The indictment states that the activities of the criminal organization were planned over a long period of time and on an international scale.
As alleged, Janković and Junčaj, as organizers, planned and organized the commission of criminal offenses related to drug smuggling. They are charged with recruiting members of the criminal organization, either themselves or through others, hiring drivers, so-called couriers, to transport marijuana or cocaine, and securing houses where drugs were stored and repackaged.
The Special Prosecutor's Office alleges that, for the purpose of smuggling marijuana, the accused established contacts with several individuals from Albania, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, procured encrypted mobile phones for other members of the criminal organization, provided money for the purchase of drugs, and provided funds to members of the criminal organization who were tasked with personally and through other members to smuggle marijuana from Montenegro to neighboring countries and EU countries.
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