Even after more than a year, Ulcinj police inspectors are still unable to track down the unknown perpetrators who stole a valuable painting by Vojo Stanić from the premises of the Ulcinj Riviera and replaced it with a fake.
This was confirmed to Vijesti by the Ulcinj Prosecutor's Office and the Police Directorate (UP).
"We would like to inform you that, in connection with the disappearance of a valuable painting from the premises of the HTP 'Ulcinjska rivijera', a case has been opened in this prosecutor's office against unknown perpetrators. We also inform you that the Basic State Prosecutor's Office (ODT) in Ulcinj has submitted a request to the Police Directorate of the Ulcinj Military District to collect information, which has ordered police officers to collect the necessary information and to take legally prescribed measures and actions within their jurisdiction in order to discover and identify the perpetrators, but that officers of the Police Directorate of the Ulcinj Military District have still not identified the aforementioned persons," the ODT wrote in its response.
The Police Directorate states that officers from the Ulcinj Security Department acted upon a report by the executive director of the Ulcinj Riviera Hotel and Tourism Company - that he suspected that an original painting by painter Vojo Stanić had disappeared from the company's premises and had been replaced with a forgery.
"The state prosecutor at the Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Ulcinj was informed of the event, and on his order, information was collected from several persons. Also, on the order of the acting prosecutor, an expert examination of the painting in question was carried out, after which the expert's findings were forwarded to the Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Ulcinj. Police officers are still taking measures and actions to establish all facts and circumstances in relation to the event in question, in coordination with the competent prosecutor's office," the UP's response reads.
Vijesti did not receive a response from that institution when asked whether the police had determined that the painting had been taken to be framed before it disappeared and whether it had been missing since then.
The ODT did not respond to an additional question about what the expert examination of the replica showed.
The disappearance of the painting in April last year was reported by the former director of the Ulcinj Riviera, Ćamil Hodža, who in his report to the police expressed suspicion that the original was not hanging on the office wall.
The local prosecutor's office previously told Vijesti that an expert assessment of the value and authenticity of the painting, which was temporarily confiscated by officers of the Ulcinj security department, is underway.
In mid-May last year, the news reported that Ulcinj inspectors were investigating who and how stole a painting worth tens of thousands of euros, and then placed a forgery on the wall in the same place.
The news also announced at the time that the disputed painting, which is in the possession of the Ulcinj police, is probably a forgery and that, like the original, it is not small in size.
In this regard, as announced at the time by the UP, 10 people were questioned: Ć. H., ML, N. Đ., ID, Đ. B., KM, EI, SV, MM and VF.
At the time, Ulcinj Riviera did not answer questions about which painting had disappeared, whether it had been found in the meantime, what the value of the artwork was, and who had been questioned by the police in this regard.
Before "Karisma" leased the hotels of the Ulcinj Riviera on Velika plaža, Stanić's picture adorned the wall of the congress hall in the "Olimpik" hotel.
After “Karisma” took over the hotels, the painting was transferred to the offices of the “Ulcinj Riviera” management on Velika Plaza.
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