Vaso Ulić, who is accused of participating in the smuggling of two and a half tons of cocaine, has pleaded not guilty to any criminal offense. He presented his defense today before a special panel of judge Nada Rabrenović at the Higher Court in Podgorica.
"I am not guilty. I know nothing about communications with the Sky and the Anomalies. I have never committed a crime in Montenegro, nor did I need to organize a criminal group. I have lived more in Australia than in Montenegro, without security, and if I had coffee with someone, I consider that to be free and no one can tell me who I will sit with," Ulić said in his defense.
The SDT indictment charges Radoje Zvicer, Vaso Ulić, Slobodan Kašćelan, Ulić's son, Nikola Ulić, Vukan Čoković Matić, Viktor Drešaj, Radomir Dobriša, Petar Miranović, Marinko Prelević, Veselin-Paro Pavličić and Mileta Božović, as well as Vuk Vulević, Radule Božović, Ivan Delić, Leon Drešaj, Dragan Pavličević, former president of the Municipality of Budva Milo Božović, Damir Mandić, Vjekoslav Lambulić and Radovan Pantović.
They are accused of organizing a group and smuggling cocaine from South America to Europe and Australia.
Defendant Vaso Ulić said that he was in the Special Police Department.
"First I was in a room with inspectors from Montenegro and they didn't ask me anything. After an hour, they told me that an inspector from the DEA and the Australian Federal Police were waiting for me in another room where, in addition to those two inspectors, there was also a translator because they thought I didn't know English," said Ulić.
He added that inspectors from the DEA and the Australian police told him: "Ulic, we are not interested in this case of yours, if you want him to cooperate with us on other matters, you come with us and there is nothing to do with this case."
He added that he left Montenegro with his family when he was twelve years old and that they first lived in Italy for three years and then moved to Australia.
Responding to questions from one of his defense attorneys, attorney Miloš Vuksanović, defendant Ulić said that he thought that people from the DEA and the Australian Federal Police were in the office of Predrag Šuković, head of the SPO.
He also explained that an inspector from the Federal Police had given him a business card and that there was a possibility that he could find it. The defendant stated that he had been visited on four occasions by the Australian Embassy.
The defendants were brought to the courtroom of the Higher Court today under heavy security. Walking up the stairs and down the hallway, defendants Božović and Lambulić greeted their friends in the courtroom with smiles, while Ivan Delić, who was the last to be escorted to the courtroom, greeted them quietly.
The trial continues on November 3.
Bonus video:
