The Court of Appeal of Montenegro accepted the appeal of the Special State Prosecutor's Office and reversed the decision of the Higher Court in Podgorica, when in the war crimes case against the defendant suspended police officer Zoran Gašović, part of the evidentiary material that came from the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals was excluded from the case file.
The SDT announced that the decision of the Higher Court in Podgorica, issued on April 15 this year, was modified, as the Court of Appeal rejected as unfounded the proposal of the defense attorney of the defendant Gašović to exclude from the case file as legally invalid evidence: minutes - statements, minutes of the hearing of citizens, minutes of the hearing of witnesses, statements, official notes and transcripts of the hearing of witnesses, which were collected by the competent authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
This evidence, which the High Court removed from the case file by a decision, was submitted to the Special State Prosecutor's Office by the Prosecutor's Office of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals.
"Based on this evidence, among other things, the Special State Prosecutor's Office filed an indictment against the defendant, Kt-S No. 438/23, dated June 19 last year, for the criminal offense of crimes against humanity, and the decision of the Court of Appeal confirmed the legal position of the special prosecutor presented in the indictment and at the hearing where its justification and legality were examined, that this is legally valid evidence that can be used in criminal proceedings," the statement states.
The defense of suspended police officer Zoran Gašović from Nikšić requested that the proceedings against him for war crimes committed in 1992 in Hadžići, Bosnia and Herzegovina, be suspended.
According to the verdict of the Hague Tribunal, war crimes were committed in Hadžići, during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992, where around 700 people were forcibly held for months in camps in a sports hall and garage.
According to the SDT indictment, Gašović participated in the mass persecution of Bosniaks and Croats from Hadžići, the imprisonment of people in a concentration camp and the deportation of around 200 Bosniaks to the Lukavica barracks, of whom around 60 were shot.
In Hadžići, a day is celebrated every year in front of the monument in that place where it is written:
"Let us remember over 500 citizens of Hadžić, camp inmates, fellow prisoners, victims of war crimes and genocide during the aggression on Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992-1995. So that it is not forgotten, so that it is not repeated."
Bonus video:
