Defendant police officer Petar Lazović denied today, at the trial at the Higher Court in Podgorica, the allegations in the indictment of the Special State Prosecutor's Office that he was a member of a criminal organization, together with Radoje Zvicer, Ljubo Milović, Radovan Mujović, Slobodan Kašćelan and other defendants.
Lazović, in his defense, assessed that this was an ordered political persecution.
He said that he performed his professional police duty for the security of Montenegro.
"I do not admit to committing any criminal offense in the fabricated indictment. This court proceeding is just a cover for ordered political discrediting. My family was chosen to be the scapegoat," Lazović stated, among other things, in his defense.
Lawyer Nikola Martinović gave a statement to reporters after the trial.
"Lazović stated in his defense that not a single action by the SPO team to which he provided operational support failed. When you take that fact into account, it is quite clear that it is impossible for Petar Lazović to have worked for anyone other than the interests of the police and the interests of this state," said Martinović.
Lawyer Borivoje Borović recalled that Lazović completely denied committing the crime.
He added that, apart from Sky Communications, there is no evidence on which he could comment today.
He added that Lazović will answer questions from his defense attorneys at the trial on May 5th.
The defendants are charged with drug trafficking, illegal possession of weapons, money laundering, and abuse of official position.
Lazović, Milović, Kašćelan, Mujović, Radovan Pantović, Nikša Perović, Radoje Živković, Nikola Spasojević, Duško Roganović are charged with being members of the criminal organization of Kotor resident Radoje Zvicer.
The indictment states that this criminal organization was formed in the second half of 2020 and that, in addition to Montenegro, it operated in South America, Africa, Europe, and Australia.
The arrest followed media reports that EUROPOL had warned the authorities about Lazović's possible criminal activities. At that time, a "SKY" communication was also published, in which Petar Lazović was allegedly involved with the Kavčani gang.
Because during the second half of 2020, on the territory of Montenegro, South America, Africa, Europe and Australia, the defendant Zvicer Radoje organized a criminal organization, whose members became defendants: Milović Ljubo, Lazović Petar, Živković Radoje, Spasojević Nikola, Kašćelan Slobodan, Vujotić Milan, Roganović Duško, Mujović Radovan, Pantović Radovan, Perović Nikša and others, which aimed to commit criminal offenses for which a prison sentence of four years or a more severe penalty may be imposed by law, for the purpose of acquiring illegal profit and power, where each member of the criminal organization had a predetermined task and role, and the activities of the criminal organization were planned for an unlimited period of time and in international exchanges, with the application of precisely defined rules of internal control and discipline of members and in the activities of the criminal organization, violence and intimidation are applied and there is a readiness to apply them, in a way that he, alone or through other persons, recruited the defendants Milović Ljuba, Lazović Petra, Živković Radoja, as members of the criminal organization Spasojević Nikola, Kašćelan Slobodan, Vujotić Milan, Roganović Duško, Mujović Radovan, Pantović Radovan, Perović Nikša and others, for committing an unspecified number of criminal offenses: unauthorized production, possession and circulation of narcotic drugs under Article 300, paragraph 1 and paragraph 4 in connection with paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro, unauthorized possession of weapons and explosives under Article 403, paragraph 3 in connection with paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro, smuggling under Article 265, paragraph 3 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro, abuse of official position under Article 416, paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro and money laundering under Article 268, paragraph 3 in connection with paragraph 2 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro. The accused Zvicer Radoje, as the organizer, assigned tasks and roles to the members in order to implement the criminal plan, determined for himself to plan the commission of certain criminal offenses and order when and how they would be committed, to provide money for the commission of criminal offenses, to determine which members of the opposing criminal organization would be killed, to procure firearms for that purpose, either himself or through other members of the criminal organization, to organize the smuggling of narcotic drugs, cocaine and hashish from South America and Africa to Montenegro, other European countries and Australia, to determine the amount of money that each member of the criminal organization would invest in the smuggling of cocaine and hashish, the amounts of smuggled cocaine and hashish that would belong to the members of the criminal organization individually, the amounts of money that each member would receive after reselling cocaine and hashish, and to exercise control over the members of his criminal organization.
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