Defense lawyers in the case against Strahinja Koprivica and others accused of drug and cigarette smuggling have challenged the Sky correspondence as evidence, requesting that the proceedings be suspended. At the hearing for the review of the indictment held today at the Higher Court in Podgorica, they also referred to the verdict handed down in the "Apartments" case and added that just as copies of copies cannot be evidence, neither can Sky material.
In addition to Strahinja Koprivica, an indictment was also filed against Igor Krstović, Blaž Đurković, Nikola Vukotić and Marinko Koprivica. The special trial panel was chaired by Judge Zoran Radović, who is the President of the Higher Court.
The Special State Prosecutor's Office maintained the allegations in the indictment. Special Prosecutor Ivana Petrušić Vukašević said that Sky, which was proposed as evidence in these proceedings, was obtained legally and on the basis of international legal assistance in criminal proceedings. Special Prosecutors Jovan Vukotić and Ivana Petrušić Vukašević proposed that the court confirm the indictment.
Defense attorney Danilo Mićović first proposed that the court separate the proceedings against the accused Igor Krstović from these proceedings because, as he stated, this was a single act of the criminal offense that, according to the indictment, was committed outside of a criminal organization. Igor Krstović addressed the court and pointed out that his health condition was deteriorating during his stay in the pre-trial detention center.
"Regarding the indictment, the defense believes that it is neither justified nor legally based, and as such could not survive in legal proceedings. In this proceeding, as in all others based on Sky operational information, the basis for suspicion has not been gradated in terms of growth. More precisely, the SDT has not collected a single piece of personal or material evidence that could substantiate the content of Sky operational information," stated attorney Mićović.
He also challenged the Court of Appeal's position that Sky is digital evidence. He added that in the "Šarić" case, which was conducted before the court in Belgrade, it was also determined that Sky in itself cannot be evidence. He also referred to the verdict in the "Veruša" case and reminded that the court's position there was also that Sky in itself cannot be evidence.
Lawyer Matija Bulatović, among other things, pointed out that the SDT did not specify the allegations related to the criminal offense of creating a criminal organization.
"There is no basis for doubt that the defendants committed the crime of creating a criminal organization. In order for a criminal organization to exist, it is necessary to specify which roles are clearly and precisely defined, to know who is the organizer and who is a member, what the goal is. That is not there here, nothing is precisely defined," he stressed.
Disputing the Sky material as evidence, lawyer Stefan Jovanović said that when it comes to Sky, the Court of Appeals does not have the final decision and it is not that court that makes the final decision.
"We have a wandering eye and that speaks volumes for us. Criminal law says that everything must be clearly established. If it is a digital document, it should also be checked. We do not have the original and neither does the court or the SDT," says lawyer Jovanović.
Attorney Stefan Jovanović, defense attorney for defendant Blaž Đurković, told the court that he had been presented with the events he had experienced at the hands of police officers. Defendant Đurković said in his address to the court that he had experienced police torture and that because of that, he confessed to the crime in the statement he gave during the investigation.
"They conditioned me with my child and my wife. They said that someone else would raise my child because this process would take three to five years. They told me that I had to cooperate if I thought I was going home. They said that if I didn't cooperate, someone else would be with my wife," said defendant Đurković.
Special State Prosecutor Jovan Vukotić asked the court to allow him to make a statement regarding these allegations, but the court refused, citing an article from the Criminal Procedure Code that does not allow this at this stage.
Lawyer Ivan Šljkuć stated that the court should suspend the proceedings against the defendant Marinko Koprivica.
The Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) has filed an indictment against Strahinja Koprivica, Igor Krstović, Blaž Đurković, Nikola Vukotić and Marinko Koprivica.
The SDT filed indictments against Strahinja and Marinko Koprivica, Vukotić and Đurković due to reasonable suspicion that they committed the criminal offense of creating a criminal organization.
Against Strahinja Koprivica, Đurković, Vukotić and Krstović for the criminal offense of unauthorized production, possession and distribution of narcotic drugs.
Indictments were filed against Strahinja Koprivica and Marinko Koprivica for two criminal offenses of smuggling, while Strahinja was also charged with two criminal offenses of illicit trade.
The subject of the indictment is, as stated, the activities of a criminal organization organized by the defendant Strahinja Koprivica in early 2019 and which operated on the territory of Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia until April 2021, whose members included Vukotić, Đurković and Marinko Koprivica and other unknown persons, with the aim of committing the criminal offenses of smuggling, unauthorized production, possession and distribution of narcotic drugs and illicit trade, for the purpose of acquiring illegal profit and power.
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