If the Serbian authorities do not extradite the former President of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro and a former official of the Democratic Party of Socialists within the next 12 months Svetozar Marović, He will be a free man because on October 10, 2026, the absolute statute of limitations for the three and a half year prison sentence will expire.
So far, the Ministry of Justice of Montenegro has sent seven letters of request for Marović's extradition, and as the absolute statute of limitations approaches, the thesis is increasingly confirmed that behind his years of hiding and alleged treatment in Belgrade is actually a political agreement.
When asked by "Vijesti" whether the Ministry of Justice is considering sending a new urgent message to its colleagues in Belgrade since the statute of limitations on the sentence is set to expire in a year, the ministry did not directly respond:
"In the previous period, the Ministry of Justice has repeatedly informed the public regarding the extradition of Svetozar Marović within the jurisdiction of this ministry. As a reminder, an international arrest warrant from the Interpol NCB Podgorica is in force for Svetozar Marović, as well as an extradition request that was sent to the Republic of Serbia in 2019," the Ministry of Justice responded.
They reiterated that in May 2025, the Ministry of Justice sent a renewed inquiry - an urgent request to the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Serbia.
"By which the Ministry requested information on the action taken upon Montenegro's request for the extradition of the named person, referring at the same time to our previous official addresses regarding the matter in question. To date, we have not received a response from the competent authorities of the Republic of Serbia in this case," the response of the head of the cabinet reads. Maja Jovic.
After Marović admitted in May 2016, after being released from six months of detention, that he was the leader of a criminal group, he sought refuge in Belgrade instead of serving a final sentence.
His lawyers at the time repeatedly stated that Marović was actually in the Serbian capital for medical treatment.
Marović was with the Special State Prosecutor's Office at the time, while he was leading that prosecution. Milivoje Katnic, entered into a plea agreement in May 2016, where he accepted to be convicted for being the head of the "Budva group" that caused damage to the Municipality of Budva of around 45 million euros.
The Higher Court in Podgorica initialed a settlement with Marović, who, according to the details of the agreement, was supposed to pay one million euros to the state treasury, as well as 100 thousand for humanitarian purposes.
Since he did not do so within the deadline ordered by the court, his prison sentence was increased by another year in a final decision in the fall of that year.
The precise details of that agreement between SDT and Marović were never made public, and the Municipality of Budva has on several occasions expressed dissatisfaction with the SDT's decision during the agreement, as they believed that the compensation set during the property claim was not fair.
After the agreement, Marović never returned to Montenegro, which issued an Interpol arrest warrant for him in May 2017.
Numerous emergencies and a walk around Vračar
Extradition and urgency requests have been sent to Serbia by as many as four Montenegrin justice ministers in previous years. The first letter of request was sent on April 2, 2019, while the head of that department was Zoran Pazin.
Minister Vladimir Leposavic He sent the second application on December 28, 2020, while his successor is in the Justice Department - Andrej Milović sent a new urgent message on January 28, 2022.
Milović was also the most prompt in sending inquiries about Marović - on April 12, 2022, he sent a request to his colleagues at Nemanjina 22 in Belgrade to extradite the former second man in DPS to Montenegro.
Minister Marko Kovač He sent a new urgent letter on August 5, 2022, and in that letter he stated that "there is a risk of the sentence becoming statute-barred."
The current Minister of Justice, Bojan Božović, sent a new urgent request in May of this year, to which, according to the response from the Ministry of Justice of Montenegro, Belgrade did not even respond.
The issue of Svetozar Marović's extradition was also addressed by former Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapic and Head of State Jakov Milatović during official visits to Belgrade.
Krivokapić in Belgrade in November 2021 during talks with the then Prime Minister of Serbia Anom Brnabić announced that "the extradition of Marović is a priority for our Government."
In July 2023, the Marović case was brought up at the highest level, during a meeting between the presidents of the two countries in Belgrade. During his first official visit to Serbia, Milatović presented a request to the Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić that Marović be extradited to his home country.
Vučić once laconically responded to all these numerous requests, urgencies and demands:
“You wouldn’t believe how complicated it all is.”
The US “blacklist”
The last head of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro has been on the "blacklist" of the United States since mid-2022.
The Ministry of Finance announced in July 2023 that sanctions had been imposed on Svetozar Marović “for responsibility or complicity and direct or indirect involvement in corruption related to the Western Balkans.”
He is charged with abuse of office, embezzlement of public property, seizure of private property for personal gain or political purposes, as well as bribery.
The US decision at the time was the trigger for the Montenegrin authorities to once again address their colleagues in Serbia.
"The involvement of the US in the Marović case is a step further for extradition and we hope that Serbia will extradite Svetozar Marović," said Andrej Milović, then State Secretary at the Ministry of Justice.
Milović then assessed that in the Marović case "there is a lack of political will", explaining that this is the only case regarding which they have a problem with their colleagues from Serbia.
Stuck over property, 24.000 euros "removed" from pension
During a multi-year process, the Municipality of Budva managed to sell the property that Svetozar Marović and his son Miloš had mortgaged, and by the end of last year, collected only 300 thousand euros.
The Municipality still has 783 thousand euros to settle, and this will only be possible after the court dispute over the property of the Marović family is concluded.
The judgment of the High Court dated September 12, 2016, with clauses of legal force and enforceability, confirmed the claim of the Municipality of Budva from Svetozar Marović in the amount of 1.096.481 euros.
In nine years, the Municipality of Budva managed to collect around 24.000 euros by "taking away" part of Marović's pension on a monthly basis.
At the end of each month, the municipality collects a portion of Svetozar Marović's pension through a public bailiff, which has now reached the amount of 317,91 euros after the increase.
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