Veljović trial: Witness says he doesn't remember some things since he fell ill

Esad Zejnilović, a witness whose hearing continued today at the Higher Court in Podgorica as the trial of former Director of the Police Administration Veselin Veljović and other defendants accused of creating a criminal organization and abuse of office continued, said that he became ill with diabetes and that he does not remember some things since then.

He said this after the court told him that he had given a different statement to the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) compared to the one he gave before the court today.

Zejnilović said that he was the director of "Tabaco Montenegro Company", which was founded by Aleksandar Mrkić.

In his statement before the SDT, which the court presented to him today, he said, among other things, that he left the company "Tabaco Montenegro Compani" because he did not want to sign a large purchase of tobacco that he found suspicious. In his previous statement, he also said that, after leaving the company, someone set fire to his tractor, barn, and house, and that the police questioned him about Aleksandar Mrkić. At that time, he told the SDT that he told the police that it was impossible for Aleksandar Mrkić to have done that, and that he would have entrusted the child to him.

According to the indictment, Aleksandar Lj. Mrkić, Veselin R. Veljović, Nikola Lj. Mrkić, Mujo Nikočević, Arsenije Kalezić, Stefan D. Bubanja, Nikola D. Bubanja, Željko M. Bulatović from Kolašin, Dušica G. Bulatović. Predrag D. Veljić, Borislav R. Lečić, Nemanja N. Anđelković, Goran M. Gluščević, Nikola M. Bačilović and Sadik A. Elnagar, in the course of 2018, in Cmoja Gora, the defendant Mrkić Aleksandar organized a criminal organization, whose members Veljović Veselin, Nikola Mrkić, Mujo Nikočević, Kalezić Arsenije, Bubanja Stefan, Bubanja Nikola, Bulatović Željko, Bulatović Dušica, Veljić Predrag, Borislav Lečić, Anđelković Nemanja, Gluščević Goran, Bačilović Nikola, Sadig Elnagar and other unidentified persons became defendants. the organization aimed to commit an unspecified number of criminal acts, smuggling and money laundering, in order to gain illegal profits and power. By which the defendant Mrkić Aleksandar committed the criminal offense of creating a criminal organization from Article 401a paragraph 1 in relation to paragraph 6 of the Cme Gora Criminal Code, and the defendants Veljović Veselin, Nikočević Mujo, Mrkić Nikola, Kalezić Arsenije, Bubanja Stefan, Bubanja Nikola, Bulatović Željko, Bulatović Dušica , Veljić Predrag, Lečić Borislav, Anđelković Nemanja, Gluščević Goran, Bačilović Nikola and Sadig Elnagar, the criminal offense of creating a criminal organization from Article 401a paragraph 2 in connection with paragraph 1 16 of the Criminal Code of Cme Gora.

The defendants Mrkić Aleksandar, Nemanja Anđelković and Arsenije Kalezić committed the criminal offense of smuggling as co-perpetrators. Then, the indictment states that the defendants Mrkić Aleksandar, Bubanja Stefan and Bubanja Nikola committed the criminal offense of smuggling as co-perpetrators under Article 265 paragraph 2 in connection with Article 23 paragraph 2 of the Criminal Code of Cme Gora.

The defendant Veljović Veselin committed the criminal offense of abuse of official position under Article 416 paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro, according to the indictment.