Kočan's lawyer: He gave a statement under beatings

The Higher Court in Podgorica will hear medical expert Dr. Nemanja Radojević, who will give a statement about the injuries suffered by the defendant Haris Kocan, the panel of judges decided yesterday Dragan Babović.

For this reason, the start of the main trial hearing was postponed to September 17th.

The trial of Kočan was scheduled to begin yesterday, for the criminal offense of aggravated murder in an attempt to harm Nikola Drecun i Igor Mašanović i killed Radovan Marković, including Vanji Burdi for helping Kočan after the murder of Radovan Marković.

Before Kočan began his defense, his defense attorney, attorney Branko Andjelic He proposed to the court that the minutes of the hearing of that accused before the Higher State Prosecutor's Office be separated from the case file. and explained:

"The defense proposes to separate the record of Haris Kočan's interrogation at the Higher State Prosecutor in Podgorica on April 4, because he did not have a defense attorney at the time. We think it is appropriate to separate it before the defense is presented. In that statement, he admitted to another criminal offense that was not included in the criminal report at all, related to Drecun and Mašanović. The accused Kočan was giving a statement while being beaten. This was noted by the investigating judge, Judge Goran Šćepanović, when the injuries were observed. In the presence of the investigating judge, Kočan spoke about the torture of police officers and those injuries were visible. Expert witness Dr. Nemanja Radojević photographed the injuries and described the dynamics and manner in which the injuries occurred," Anđelić stated.

Senior State Prosecutor Snežana Sišević, she said she was against it.

"During the hearing with this prosecutor at the State Prosecutor's Office, the suspect Haris Kočan was informed of his rights and was specifically asked by this prosecutor how he was treated by the police. I will quote Kočan's statement: 'No one threatened me in the police and everything was normal'. There were no visible injuries during the hearing itself, nor did I notice any, because if I had, I would have immediately ordered Kočan to be examined, as I did in the case of Burda, who had injuries, as he said - that they had occurred while he was making his way through the forest," she pointed out.

The Marković family's attorney, attorney Srđan Lješković, supported the state prosecutor's proposal.

After a break, the court ruled that Dr. Radojević be heard on the circumstances of the findings from April 7, 2024, where he described Kočan's injuries, and that he will give his statement at the main hearing on September 17, explained Judge Dragan Babović.

The indictment states that on November 20, 2023, Kočan, with intent for selfish gain, attempted to fire a projectile from an RPG-7 rocket launcher into the vehicle of Igor Mašanović and Nikola Drecun, by accepting a proposal from an unidentified person for money...

"When he spotted them, he fired an anti-tank anti-armor grenade/rocket from the aforementioned firearm, which hit the ground in front of the passenger side of the vehicle"...