The Court of Appeals of Montenegro overturned the verdict of the Higher Court in Bijelo Polje and reduced the prison sentence of the accused NM from three to two years, the decision was made after a council session held on November 6.
The appeal was filed by the defendant's defense attorney, attorney VB, and the second-instance court upheld some of the allegations related to sentencing.
The High Court had previously found NM guilty of the unauthorized production, possession and distribution of narcotics and sentenced him to three years in prison, including the time the defendant spent in custody...
Also, a security measure was imposed to seize and destroy the seized narcotic drug "cocaine" with a net weight of 0,663 grams, while the defendant was ordered to pay a court fee of 60 euros.
The defense attorney's appeal was filed due to alleged significant procedural violations and the length of the sentence, with a request that the accused be sentenced to a more lenient sentence.
The Higher State Prosecutor's Office proposed rejecting the appeal, but the Appellate Court panel, after reviewing all the files, found that some of the appeal allegations were well-founded.
The court found that there were no significant violations in the High Court's proceedings, and that it was correctly concluded that the accused sold a certain amount of cocaine to witness IP on the relevant day. The defense's claim that the accused merely transferred the drugs was not accepted, and the finding of sale was confirmed.
However, in the sentencing part, the Court of Appeals found that the first-instance court did not sufficiently take into account the quantity of narcotics as a relevant mitigating circumstance. Based on expert testimony and witness statements, the court determined that the defendant sold slightly more than one gram of cocaine, which allowed for a more lenient sentence.
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