The hearing on appeals against the verdict by which the former director of the Police Administration (UP) was found guilty of abuse of office has been completed before the Appellate Court Panel.
The court announced that the decision would be made within the legal deadline.
"By the first-instance verdict of the Higher Court in Podgorica, which is subject to appeal, the accused Slavko Stojanović was found guilty of the criminal offense of abuse of official position and the criminal offense of illegal possession of weapons and explosives and sentenced to a single prison sentence of 3 years and 8 months," the Court of Appeal announced.
Stojanović was sentenced in March to a single prison sentence of three years and eight months for cigarette smuggling and illegal possession of weapons.
The Special State Prosecutor's Office charged him with allowing a truck with 120 packages of smuggled cigarettes to pass through as director of the Police Department.
Before the Panel of Judge Igor Đuričković, Stojanović pleaded guilty.
Stojanović: I sincerely regret what I did
"I have come as a man to tell you that I sincerely regret what I did. My conscience has already punished me, it is destroying my psyche and soul. I will suffer the shame and consequences for the rest of my life," Stojanović said today at the Court of Appeals.
During his defense before the Higher Court in Podgorica, he admitted that he abused his position when he misled his colleagues that his friend's truck was under secret surveillance by the special prosecutor's office and that it should be allowed to pass so as not to jeopardize the special police operation, but not that he knew that the truck contained cigarettes without the necessary documentation.
The defense attorney for the defendant Stojanović, attorney Miroslav Adžić, expressed doubt that according to the verdict, there were 120 packs of cigarettes in the truck and pointed out that the verdict itself states "around 120 packs", which could mean a higher or lower quantity.
"In this way, the charge was exceeded," said lawyer Adžić, adding that even if the exact quantity of cigarettes of 120 packs and the exact brand had been determined, the value of the cigarettes would have been 8.400 euros because these were cigarettes on which no duties were paid, in accordance with the letter from the Customs Administration.
"Everyone knows that cigarettes are destroyed after being seized, so the question arises as to how the state budget was damaged by the non-payment of cigarette taxes in this case," Adžić stated in the appeal.
Bonus video:
