The Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) announced that by prosecuting Aleksandar Mijajlović and the suspected members of his criminal group, it did not commit a "brutal attack" on media freedom and freedom of expression.
They officially announced the criminal proceedings initiated against several individuals for creating a criminal organization, abuse of official position, and disclosure of classified information.
In the SDT operation, in addition to Mijajlović, senior state prosecutor Andrijana Nastic, former senior police officials Drago Spičanović, Milovan Pavicevic, police officer Vladan Lazović, and former Minister of Defense Predrag Bošković were arrested.
Mijajlović and Spičanović were sent to the Supka remand prison, and the others were ordered to undergo supervision measures.
"The Special State Prosecutor's Office has ordered the investigation against the defendants AM, DS, VL, MP, AN and PB, because it has determined from the electronic, material and personal evidence that it, together with the Special Police Department, collected during the investigation that there is a reasonable suspicion that they committed the criminal offense of creating a criminal organization, the defendant AM and the extended criminal offense of abuse of official position through incitement, the defendant DS and the extended criminal offense of abuse of official position and the criminal offense of disclosing secret information, the defendant VL and two criminal offenses of disclosing secret information, the defendant MP and the criminal offense of abuse of official position, and the defendant AN and for the criminal offense of disclosing secret information. The subject of the investigation is that there is a reasonable suspicion that the defendant AM, with currently unknown persons, organized a criminal organization whose members became the other defendants and other, currently unknown persons, which operated in Montenegro, in the period from 2018 to February 2024, with the aim of committing "criminal acts of abuse of official position and disclosure of secret information, for the purpose of acquiring illegal profit and power, where each member had a predetermined task and role, and in the activities of the criminal organization there was a readiness to use violence and intimidation and economic and business structures were used, and there was an influence of the criminal organization on the political and executive authorities, the media and other important economic and social factors," the SDT statement states.
The prosecutor's office added: "The evidence collected in particular gives rise to a reasonable suspicion that the accused organizer, through the accused who are employed in state bodies, namely the accused DS as Assistant Director of the Police Administration and an officer of the National Security Agency, the accused VL, as an officer of the Special Police Department and the Department for Securing Foreign Protected Persons of the Police Administration, the accused MP, as Head of the Podgorica Security Center of the Police Administration, or the holders of public functions, the accused AN, as a state prosecutor in the Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica and the Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica, and the accused PB as the coordinator for the municipality of B. of the political party DPS for monitoring the 2020 parliamentary elections, who unlawfully exploited their positions and powers, obtained secret and other data and, through the formation and informal management of the media network, influenced the editorial policy of MP, ET, CDM, S., PA, P. and AM, used such data to create public opinions, creating an image solely for the purpose of suppressing competition, for the personal and professional discrediting of all persons, religious and political organizations and business entities, whose opinions and actions are contrary to the goals and interests of the criminal organization and persons associated with it, but also to influence the exercise of the right to vote of citizens of Montenegro in elections through decisions on the duration of employment relationships of certain employees in companies associated with the criminal organization.
"In relation to the allegations of certain public figures, media and other entities that the initiation of a specific criminal proceeding is a 'brutal attack' on the freedom of the media and freedom of expression, we point out that one of the optional conditions for the existence of a criminal offense is the creation of a criminal organization, as stipulated by the Criminal Code of Montenegro, that there is an influence of a criminal organization or part of it on the media, and from the evidence collected during the investigation, it was determined that there is a reasonable suspicion that the defendants committed the criminal offenses of creation of a criminal organization, abuse of official position, disclosure of secret information, or criminal offenses against the constitutional order and security of Montenegro, against official duty and public order and peace, so it is the duty of the Special State Prosecutor's Office, according to the Criminal Procedure Code, to initiate criminal prosecution against them by conducting an investigation," the SDT statement reads.
The prosecutor's office said that their position was also confirmed by the Higher Court in Podgorica, "because the investigating judge ordered detention for the accused organizer AM and the accused DS, who are charged with, at the request of the organizer, undertaking 14 acts of abuse of official position and the act of disclosing secret information, at the proposal of the special and state prosecutors, and for the other defendants, in response to the proposal for detention, appropriate supervision measures (ban on leaving the apartment, obligation to report to the Police Directorate, confiscation of travel documents) and detention and other procedural coercive measures can be ordered under the Criminal Procedure Code only if there is a reasonable suspicion that the defendants committed criminal offenses for which they are prosecuted ex officio, for which detention or the imposition of supervision measures are requested."
"Finally, the Special State Prosecutor's Office informed the public about the initiation and status of the procedure when all planned and initiated evidentiary actions in this phase of the procedure were completed, especially since the procedure was secret until October 5, when the secrecy label was removed," the SDT statement reads.
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