The Court of Appeals of Montenegro rejected the defense's appeal as unfounded. Nikolete Uskoković to the decision of the Higher Court in Podgorica, which extended her detention in early July on suspicion of participating in the planning and logistical support of the murders Žarko Pejaković i Petra Lipovina.
The decision was made on August 1 at a session of the panel chaired by Judge Mirjana Popović.
According to the indictment, in the second half of 2024, Uskoković, together with several accomplices, became a member of a criminal group organized to commit serious crimes, including planning the liquidation of Pejaković and Lipovina.
According to the suspicions of the investigating authorities, she and several other defendants secured an apartment in Podgorica, intended for hiding and preparing a murder that was not carried out thanks to police intervention.
Uskoković is charged with aggravated murder by aiding and abetting, illegal possession and carrying of weapons and explosives, and criminal association. In its explanation of the decision, the court stated that there was sufficient evidence indicating her connection to the preparation of the murders, including analyses of mobile phone communications, reports from the Forensic Center, autopsy documentation, and witness statements.
"By assessing the evidence from the case file of the first instance court, to the level of reasonable suspicion, this court, like the first instance court, has determined that the defendant NU is reasonably suspected of having committed the criminal offenses charged against her in the indictment, that is, that she... became a member of an association whose goal is to commit criminal offenses against life and limb - aggravated murder"...
In addition to her, the accused in the same case are: Sava Kaluđerović, Aleksandar Dacić, Miljan Marjanović, as well as a Danish citizen residing in Andrijevica Tommy Ra Frost (41), which was previously called Tomica Rajovic.
Reasons for extending detention
The Court of Appeal confirmed the High Court's position that there was a risk of flight, given the gravity of the crimes, the severity of the sentences imposed and the fact that Uskoković was young, unmarried and without strong ties to her place of residence. The court assessed that milder measures, such as a ban on leaving her place of residence or the seizure of her travel documents, would not be sufficient to prevent the possibility of the defendant fleeing justice.
"When deciding on the further duration of detention, this court took into account that detention is the most severe procedural measure for ensuring the smooth conduct of criminal proceedings and that it inevitably means a restriction of the right to personal liberty of the defendants..., but considering everything previously explained, it assessed that the aforementioned measure, both in its duration and its severity, is necessary and proportionate to the gravity of the criminal offenses that the defendant is reasonably suspected of having committed, whereby this court took into account not only the amount of the legally imposed penalty for those offenses, but also all the circumstances of the specific case, including that the purpose for which the detention of this defendant is being extended cannot be achieved by a more lenient measure prescribed by the CPC. For the above reasons, the allegations in the appeal claiming the opposite are unfounded," the court decision states.
On November 6, 2024, at around 15.20:30 p.m., masked attackers fired more than XNUMX bullets from automatic weapons into the vehicle in which Lipovina and Pejaković were located.
The prosecution suspects Vuk Lalatović (25) from Nikšić and Artur Cimerman (28) from Belgrade as the direct perpetrators, for whom the police are searching. In addition to Lalatović and Cimerman, the police are also searching for Lazar Lazić (31) from Belgrade.
Bursts at the intersection
Forty-two-year-old Lipovina and twenty-six-year-old Pejaković were killed at the entrance to Podgorica, after attackers fired a burst of gunfire at their BMW.
Armed men wearing balaclavas waited for their targets shortly after 15 p.m. near the roundabout and the intersection of the main roads Podgorica - Cetinje - Nikšić and opened fire...
They then got into a stolen Renault, drove to Mareza, where they set the car on fire. They then changed vehicles, and "Vijesti" was told that the police know who it belongs to...
According to police information, Lipovina was a high-ranking member of the Cetinje branch of the Kavača criminal group and was using a vehicle with license plate CTBB271, which was then shot at.
The other victim - Pejaković - allegedly belonged to that clan.
The first left the Spuž Remand Prison at the end of 2023, and the second about ten days before the attack, because no first-instance verdicts were issued in organized crime cases within the legal three-year period.
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