The defense of Srđan Popović, accused of intentionally killing Goran Đuričković on the promenade in Budva in front of "The Old Fishermans Pub", proposed to the court that evidence confirming the allegations of the defendant's defense be presented in the continuation of the evidentiary proceedings.
At the Higher Court in Podgorica, lawyer Marko Radović, Popović's defense attorney, presented a series of evidentiary proposals to the court, which the court will decide on during the proceedings.
"Considering the content of the UIKS letter about who visited witness Srđan Svjetlanović in UIKS, while he was serving his sentence under the verdict of the Basic Court Podgorica K No. 192/15, I propose that the court inspect the UIKS certificate - Prison for long sentences No. 221/25, which was issued at the request of the witness heard here, lawyer Balša Dragović. I propose that the act of the Police Administration of Montenegro, OB Budva dated 22.9.2017 be inspected," said Radović.
He added that the content of these documents, on the one hand, confirms that witnesses Dragović and Svjetlanović testified truthfully before the court regarding the fact that Balša Dragović, as a lawyer, visited Srđan Svjetlanović at UIKS.
"They also confirm that Srđan Svjetlanović was visited by officers of the Budva Police Department, at the UIKS premises. And that one of the visits by lawyer Dragović was right after Svjetlanović was visited by the Police Administration at UIKS, as Svjetlanović stated in his statement, when they took his DNA swab," said lawyer Radović. He believes that the content of this evidence confirms the defense's thesis, that for the purposes of this procedure, this court is constantly being submitted by the competent authorities with incorrect content, which the court must take special care of."
"I believe that this evidence is very important, it confirms the testimonies of witness Dragović and witness Svjetlanović. Especially when they are linked to the contents of the medical documentation, which refers to Srđan Svjetlanović, who confirmed Popović's defense that he was in his hometown during the critical period," Radović pointed out.
He repeated the request from the previous main trial hearing, to obtain from the Forensic Center of Montenegro all documentation relating to the correspondence between the competent authority and the authority that sent the traces for expert examination, in the case of the Podgorica State Prosecutor's Office Case No. 12/15.
"I believe that the presentation of this evidence is important to verify the testimony of Sandra Kovačević, a DNA expert, at the main hearing in this case," said lawyer Radović.
"From the report on the sampling of traces, which is in the case files 192/25 of the Basic Court in Podgorica, it follows that DNA swabs related to the defendant Srđan Popović were sent to the Forensic Center Danilovgad. And the court, through direct inspection of the evidence, like all of us, was convinced that there were no such swabs in the evidence, but that there was only a card on which the biological material from the swab was applied." What is particularly interesting is the content of the testimony of Sandra Kovačević, expert witness D) at the main trial, especially in the part that refers to certain matters that are not in the case files, that this evidence arrived at the Forensic Center from the prosecution and not from the police, although, I repeat, this is not the practice, there is no trace of this in the case files. I believe that it is very important to obtain all documentation related to the above, "said Radović.
State Prosecutor Irena Burić at the Higher State Prosecutor's Office opposed the defense's evidentiary proposals, because they were "without significance for the clarification of this criminal legal proceeding."
"The introduction of such evidence would lead to a delay in this procedure," Burić pointed out.
Popović presented his defense at the main trial in March 2024, when he pleaded not guilty. He stated that he did not understand weapons and had never fired a weapon.
"I have not passed the test to drive a jet ski, I do not drive a car, I do not know how to drive a jet ski, and I have never ridden a jet ski. I did not know the injured party, the late Đuričković Goran. I do not know anyone, nor did I know anyone who knew or had a conflict with Đuričković. In relation to the period stated in the indictment, I was not even in Montenegro. Before I was extradited to Montenegro from Austria, the last time I was in Montenegro was at the beginning of 2015, around the Christmas holidays, when I was in Budva and Podgorica," he said.
Popović was sentenced in absentia by the Higher Court in Podgorica to 15 years and 10 months in prison for the murder of Đuričković and illegal possession of weapons.
The first-instance verdict states that Popović is guilty of intentionally killing Đuričković on October 27, 2015, at around 20 p.m. on Slovenska Obala Street in Budva, on the promenade in front of the restaurant "The Old Fishermans Pub".
The first-instance verdict states that the defendant fired three shots at the injured party from an old loophole located on the walls of the Old Town, above the location called "Zvono", from a German-made "Heckler & Koh" automatic rifle, with a factory number removed.
The verdict further states that at that moment Đuričković was on the promenade in front of the restaurant "The Old Fishermans Pub". One of the shots fired hit him in the right side of the chest, causing him serious and life-threatening injuries, from which he died on the spot. After that, the defendant Popović fled with a jet ski that had been prepared in advance in the direction of Kotor. In the town of Platamuni, he left the jet ski in the bay between the beaches of Trsteno and Ploče. In order to destroy biological traces, he set the said jet ski on fire with gasoline and drove away in an unknown direction. He threw the automatic rifle into the sea, which was found on September 12, 2016, in the area between Cape Platamuni and Mogren II beach.
A final decision of the extra-trial chamber of the Higher Court in Podgorica allowed the reopening of the criminal proceedings against the accused Popović.
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