Suspended police officer Ivan Stamatović called Batica He claimed that he could not remember the details of the action of escorting the two Nikšić men from the town near Trebjes to the police premises in the Podgorica City Mall, nor who was in the car with him, or whether he or someone else was driving the vehicle...
In the courtroom of the Basic Court in Podgorica, before the judge Ilija Radulović, he justified his poor memory with the passage of time, adding that his "memories came back through the media."
Stamatović testified yesterday in the continuation of the trial of his suspended colleagues, Petar Lazovic i Jugoslav Raičević.
The two are facing charges for allegedly torturing members of the organized crime gang Skaljari. Jovan Mrvaljević, after he was detained in Nikšić at the end of December 2020.
Lazović is also being tried because, according to the prosecutor's indictment, Biljana Pavlicic, also tortured Mrvaljević's colleague from the clan, Milo Jovanovic.
"The action we conducted on the critical occasion, seen from the perspective of the activities undertaken, was not something specific that I would remember, except that I now see that it is all mentioned in the media. I remember it because of one detail - that my colleagues from another vehicle informed me that the person we were escorting, who was in the other vehicle, had suffered a diabetic shock. They informed me about this because I am also diabetic, and because I always have a chocolate bar and water. We stopped at Mareza's, I gave him a chocolate bar and water," said Stamatović.
He added that Jovanović was being escorted in the car he was in.
"Now I can't remember who was in the vehicle with me, who was driving, or who was sitting where," Stamatović said.
Responding to a question from prosecutor Pavličić, he said that he could not even remember where he was sitting in the vehicle.
"As far as I remember, no one else got out of the vehicle on Mareza except me. I was focused on giving this person a chocolate bar, so that he would feel better," he said in response to her question.
Judge Radulović warned him about the differences in his testimony before him and the prosecutor, when he said that he was driving the car, and that Lazović and Momo Mirkovic.
"Believe me, today I really can't remember who was in the vehicle and who was sitting where, because this was a completely routine operation, with the lowest security risk. Two citizens were brought in, without restraints. There was no particular reason for me to focus on it and remember," Stamatović said.
He also claimed that the police Special Operational Support Team "worked as one", that it was not the established practice to have someone constantly driving and someone sitting next to the person.
"I can't say for sure who was in the vehicle," he told the judge, adding what the duties of that team were and that they did not conduct evidentiary activities:
"In our Department, there were 13 or 14 officers who were engaged in this Team. We did not have fixed working hours, we were sometimes engaged at midnight, sometimes at three o'clock, sometimes in the morning. That is why there were no fixed groups, because it depended on the organization and the possibilities of the very nature of the work that we had to do, as well as which of the officers responded to the message sent," said Stamatović, answering questions from Mrvaljević's attorney, a lawyer. Tatjana Pavličić.
He couldn't even answer her questions: Who was the team leader that night, how many vehicles they went into action with, how they told him that Mrvaljević had suffered a diabetic shock - by phone or radio, or whether he remembered the moment when they called him to inform him about it.
"My memories have been refreshed through media reports. I can't remember the exact location where we stopped. Whether it was before the turn for Mareza or after. We didn't turn, as far as I remember, it was by the side of the road," he said.
He testified that the group Mrvaljević was with, after giving them a chocolate bar and water, continued towards the Clinical Center of Montenegro, while the group he was in took Jovanović to City Mall, after which, he claims, they went home.
He couldn't even answer the question of which of his colleagues they handed Jovanović over to:
"I remember Jovanović walking freely past us. I don't know which of our colleagues we handed him over to, but as far as I remember, we went home afterwards," he said, answering the lawyer's question.
"I object to the witness's statement. It is obvious that the witness sympathizes with the defendants. As a trained and educated police officer, he would certainly have to remember," Pavličić said.
After her objection, one of Lazovićević's defense attorneys, lawyer Marko Radovic:
"Today's testimony was objective and fair. Professional qualifications cannot affect a witness's memory after all this time," he said.
Detention for Skye
Stamatović, as he claimed yesterday, could not even remember what time it was when Mrvaljević and Jovanović were escorted from Nikšić.
"If I hadn't read it in the media, I wouldn't even be able to remember these people's last names," he said in response to the judge's question.
Judge Radulović was interested in whether, as a diabetic, he had looked at Mrvaljević, and he said he had not.
"They rushed to take him to the Emergency Center," he said.
"Regarding the indictment about Skaje," said Stamatović, answering the judge's question about why he was in pretrial detention. According to the Special State Prosecutor's Office, the suspended police officer is one of those accused of cocaine smuggling, money laundering, and abuse of office.
Peter did not impose himself, nor did he stand out.
Petar Lazović was neither the formal nor informal leader of the police Special Operational Support Team, nor did he impose himself as a leader on his colleagues, he did not stand out in any way, he did not undertake anything on his own initiative...
This is how Stamatović described his colleague Petar Lazović, answering his questions.
"He never stood out, nor did he do anything, he was an equal member of the team. I joined that team after 16 years of work in the police and I would never allow someone to impose themselves on me as a leader, unless that was the case," said Stamatović.
Only Raičević took down the Phantom
The suspended police officer said that none of his colleagues took off their balaclavas during the escort of Jovanović and Mrvaljević from Nikšić to Podgorica.
"We didn't take off our balaclavas. That was a security procedure, we didn't take them off," he said, responding to a question from Lazović's defense attorney, attorney Nikola Martinović.
Raičević had no questions for Stamatović, but rather explained that it was true that the procedure was not to remove the balaclavas, but that he violated it that night:
"I took off my mask in the Emergency Center, I couldn't be in front of patients, nurses, doctors with the mask on. If I had done something, I wouldn't have taken off my mask. We just helped him," he said.
Defense calls police officers, prosecutor believes they will defend colleagues
Lawyer Radović proposed that the inspectors to whom the alleged victims were handed over - Nikola Janičić, Nikola Žižić, Vladimir Rakonjac and Boris Anđušić - be heard as witnesses.
The prosecutor said that these police officers could not comment on the injuries.
"They could not have noticed the injuries on the injured parties, given that it was winter, and I believe that they would not have given an objective statement, but would have sided with the defendants," said Pavličić.
"They will all be in solidarity with each other. This would only lead to a delay in the proceedings," said Lekić, adding that he opposes the proposal.
Attorney Martinović said that the prosecutor's assumption that the witnesses would side with the defendants deserves serious comment.
"I agree with the proposal of my colleague Radović and I believe that the position of the prosecution and the reasons they stated in opposing the proposal are worrying, because these witnesses can point to certain important circumstances of the interrogation of the injured parties, their appearance and condition. If the position of the prosecution that they will speak in favor of their colleagues were accepted, the question arises as to why we interrogated all these witnesses," said Martinović.
Controversy over earlier records
Lawyer Marko Radović proposed yesterday that the minutes of the hearing of Lazović and Raičević before the Basic State Prosecutor's Office, when they testified as witnesses, be removed from the case file as legally invalid.
Prosecutor Pavličić said she opposed the proposal.
"They were heard when the proceedings were not directed against any person. They are included in the case file with the Ktr. designation, when the perpetrator of the criminal offense was not yet known. It was submitted to the court in order to keep in mind all the steps taken during the proceedings, because it concerns the same event," said Raičević.
She added that at the hearing before last, the same defense attorney requested that the court read the minutes of the hearing of witnesses heard in the same proceedings as them.
"I would like to point out to the court that today's proposal by my colleague Radović shows that the minutes of the witness hearing that he proposed should not have been read, which is why I requested the separation of part of the minutes from the hearing before last at which these minutes were read," said Jovanović's defense attorney, attorney Damir Lekić.
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