On October 31, after a panel session, the Court of Appeals issued a decision accepting the appeals of the defense attorneys of the accused Dražen Vojvodić and Novica Đikanović, quashing the verdict of the Higher Court in Podgorica from May 19, and returning the case to the first-instance court for a retrial.
Vojvodić was convicted in the first instance of the murder of Vidak Vujović in 2023 in Podgorica.
"By the first-instance verdict, the accused Dražen Vojvodić was found guilty of committing the criminal offense of aggravated murder in conjunction with the criminal offense of illegal possession of weapons and explosives and sentenced to a long-term prison sentence of 40 years, while the accused Novica Đikanović was found guilty of committing the criminal offense of assisting the perpetrator after the criminal offense was committed in conjunction with the criminal offense of illegal possession of weapons and explosives and sentenced to a prison sentence of 5 years and 6 months," the Court of Appeals reminded in a statement.
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In the appeals process, that court determined that the first-instance verdict was "affected by significant violations of the provisions of criminal procedure", and that the factual situation was incompletely established, which is why the first-instance verdict "could not be examined, but rather it was necessary to quash it and return the case to the first-instance court for a retrial".
The decision with detailed reasons will be published on the website of the Court of Appeal.
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