The Higher Court in Podgorica provided "Vijesti" with part of the explanation, which modified the decision of the investigating judge, after which the defendant Srđan Jokić, accused of cigarette smuggling in two cases of the Special State Prosecutor's Office, was released from custody and a supervision measure was imposed - a ban on leaving the apartment.
They stated that it is essential when considering a motion to order detention to consider "the fact whether detention is necessary and indispensable and whether the same purpose can be achieved by another, less restrictive measure."
"According to the finding of this panel, the same purpose can be achieved by the measure of supervision of the prohibition to leave the apartment under Article 166, paragraph 1, item 1 of the Criminal Procedure Code, i.e. it is not necessary and justified to order detention, as the strictest measure that infringes on the rights and freedoms of every person, because the imposed supervision measure provides a sufficient guarantee for the unhindered conduct of criminal proceedings," the ruling states in the explanation.
The Council stated that it cannot be ignored that in another case, in relation to the defendant Jokić, the defense attorney's proposal to set bail in the amount of 557.445,00 euros, consisting of a mortgage on real estate, was accepted...
"Considering the defendant's allegations that a mortgage has been established on real estate owned by his wife, sister-in-law, sister-in-law's common-law husband and a close friend, and that he has repeatedly stated that he has no intention of absconding, that he is a family man, this panel considers that the bail in question, along with the supervision measure, represents a sufficient guarantee that this defendant will not abscond, whereby the measure imposed by this decision and the bail determined in the other proceedings must be viewed cumulatively because they complement each other, all in order to achieve the purpose of imposing the measure in question and the bail, i.e. the guarantee that the defendant will not abscond," the Higher Court states in its reasoning.
The Higher Court in Podgorica in early July accepted bail of 557.445 euros for defendant Srđan Jokić, whom the Special State Prosecutor's Office accuses of being part of Saša Pekić's criminal organization, which is believed to have damaged the state by 17,5 million euros through cigarette smuggling.
After the court accepted bail, Jokić was released from custody, in which he had been held since December 27, 2024, when officers of the Special Police Department, acting on the orders of the SDT, carried out an operation to arrest nine people, who are believed to have been an important link in the smuggling chain for years.
While the paperwork for registering the mortgage on the real estate, which was pledged as collateral for the termination of the detention, was being completed, Jokić remained in detention for several more days, and then, upon his release from UIKS, he was arrested again after the Special State Prosecutor's Office opened a new investigation against him on suspicion of cigarette smuggling.
After the new investigation, Jokić spent only ten days in custody because the High Court panel reversed the decision of the investigating judge, believing that the supervision measure, along with the offered bail, was a sufficient guarantee that the defendant would not escape.
At the end of June, the SDT filed an indictment against the accused group organizer Saša Pekić, Srđan Jokić, Goran Janketić, Dragan Backović, Predrag Mijušković, Predrag Vučurović, Nikola Glomazić and brothers Petar and Mirko Cicmil, due to the existence of reasonable suspicion that they committed the criminal offense of creating a criminal organization and the continued criminal offense of smuggling.
The defendants Backović and Jokić are also charged with the criminal offense of money laundering, and the defendants police officers Backović, Vučurović and Mijušković are also charged with the extended criminal offense of money laundering, and the defendants police officers Backović, Vučurović and Mijušković are also charged with the extended criminal offense of abuse of official position.
After the indictment was delivered, the SDT announced that it relates to the activities of a criminal organization formed by Pekić, whose members included Jokić, Janketić and Backović and other unknown persons, and the activities of a criminal organization formed by the accused brothers Cicmil and Backović, whose members included Vučurović, Mijušković and Glomazić.
Special prosecutors have determined that the two criminal organizations have been working closely together for years.
"The criminal organization of the defendant SP purchased untaxed cigarettes and sold them to the criminal organization PC, MC and DB and other unknown buyers, so that the criminal organization of the defendants PC, MC and DB would further sell the purchased untaxed cigarettes to unknown buyers in Bosnia and Herzegovina, while the defendants DB, PV and PM, using their official positions as officers of the Police Administration of Montenegro, enabled both criminal organizations to engage in smuggling and also to launder money from illegal profits gained from the sale of smuggled untaxed cigarettes," the SDT states.
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