The Higher Court in Podgorica extended the detention of Danilo Mandić, suspected of the attempted murder of Darko Perović and Aris Turković, as well as for the illegal possession and carrying of weapons, for two months.
This was confirmed for Vijesti by the independent public relations advisor of the Higher Court in Podgorica, Ivana Vukmirović.
Mandić's detention was extended at the proposal of the Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica.
Mandić was remanded in custody due to the risk of flight, influence over witnesses, and the risk of recidivism.
Danilo Mandić is the nephew of the Speaker of the State Parliament Andrija Mandić, and on the night when he allegedly shot and wounded two people, he was using an official jeep owned by the Parliament of Montenegro.
Danilo Mandić, the informal bodyguard of the Speaker of the Parliament, is accused of attempting to kill Darko Perović and Aris Turković on April 19, after a night out in a cafe in the center of the capital.
According to the Police Directorate, Mandić blocked their path in a Range Rover registered to the Parliament of Montenegro and fired several shots at them. Both were wounded in the legs.
He surrendered to the police after almost 24 hours, claiming he had nothing to do with the incident.
After the initial prosecutorial detention, the investigating judge ordered his detention for up to 30 days.
During the hearing at the Higher State Prosecutor's Office, Perović and Turković denied that Mandić shot at them, and did not join the criminal prosecution.
In his statement on April 23, Perović claimed that he was exposed to threats and blackmail by the police, in order to accuse the nephew of the Speaker of the Parliament of wounding him.
Shortly after that, the security institution filed a criminal complaint against Perović for false reporting and concluded that in this way he tried to absolve the nephew of the head of the Parliament of Montenegro from responsibility.
In parallel with the investigation by the Higher State Prosecutor's Office, the Podgorica Basic State Prosecutor's Office is determining whether the parliament's official vehicle was misused on the night when, according to the police, Mandić attempted to kill fellow citizens.
The Prosecutor's Office, headed by Prosecutor Duško Milanović, ex officio opened a case at the end of April regarding the potential misuse of the official car of the highest legislative house.
"... I would like to inform you that a case has been formed on this occasion in the investigation process. Data is being obtained from the competent state authorities, and after analyzing the obtained data, the person will be questioned. In order to protect the interests of the procedure, it is not possible to provide more details for now," the Podgorica Public Prosecutor's Office previously told Vijesti.
The Parliament and Mandić are still not responding to "Vijesti"'s questions regarding the vehicle allegedly driven by Danilo Mandić on April 19, which is being taken to that institution.
Andrija Mandić announced on April 30 that he had not made any public statements so that no one would have reason to say that he was putting pressure on the authorities.
"This is a new Montenegro, and no one in it can be exempted from the application of legal punishment, provided that they are truly guilty. I learned about the situation and the accusations against my nephew from the media, as did most citizens. According to official information, the two lightly injured people explicitly claim that Danilo is not connected to the unfortunate incident, and despite this, he is in pretrial detention," he wrote on the Iks network.
Mandić stated that he expects the investigation to "be swift, thorough and independent."
"Unless someone thinks that he (Danil Mandić) should be shot before the end of the proceedings, and it would be good if such people announced this publicly and thus exposed themselves before the Montenegrin public," the speaker of parliament said that day.
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