The trial of Milivoj Katnić, former Chief Special Prosecutor, Zoran Lazović, former Assistant Director of the Police Administration, and former Special Prosecutor Saša Čađenović, who are accused of creating a criminal organization, abuse of office, and money laundering, continued today at the Higher Court in Podgorica with the hearing of witnesses.
Police officer Nikola Janičić, who was employed in the Sector for Combating Organized Crime, which was headed by the now-defendant Lazović, testified before the special panel of judge Veljko Radovanović today.
Janičić was categorical that Lazović never called him to ask that someone not be prosecuted.
"I am not aware that former senior police official Zoran Lazović had any connections with criminal groups, nor could we determine this from secret surveillance measures. The best evidence of our work is the results, which are the cases that have been completed and are pending before the High Court in Podgorica," said witness Nikola Janičić.
For almost three and a half hours, Janičić answered questions from both the accused and their defense attorneys. He claimed that no one asked him to exclude any person from the criminal report.
"Zoran Lazović never called me to say that a person should not be prosecuted, especially not Duško Roganović," Janičić pointed out, responding to a question from one of Lazović's defense attorneys, attorney Stefan Jovanović.
When asked by lawyer Zoran Piperović, the witness explained that Lazović did not attend the meetings where they agreed on what activities would be undertaken.
"I proposed that Milan Kankaraš be questioned. He was in the witness protection program. I proposed this to Zoran Backović and Milorad Žižić. They met Čađenović and he agreed to it," Janičić said.
He added that he had also communicated with Čađenović regarding the second interrogation of Kankaraš.
Witness Janičić states that the then special prosecutor Saša Čađenović never told him that he had communicated with Lazović regarding Kankaraš.
Piperović explained that he was asking these questions because Lazović was accused of acting contrary to the article on state administration, which, as he emphasized, was not true.
"Veljko Belivuk and Marko Miljković entered Montenegro in January 2021, but at that time we had no information that they had committed any criminal offense in Montenegro, nor that they were planning to commit any criminal offense. When they entered Montenegro, we received information that the liquidation of Belivuk and Miljković was being prepared, and they prevented it. After that, a meeting was organized in Banja Luka. At that meeting, Žižić and Lazović were with colleagues from Serbia and Banja Luka. They exchanged information about the case related to Belivuk and Miljković," said Janičić.
Janičić said that he first saw Lazović in 2019 in the office of the head of the Herceg Novi Security Center when Stefan Šarović was killed.
"Thanks to Lazović, the case was resolved immediately because he said that a helicopter should be provided, that forensic experts should come and that the prosecutor should question the witness immediately, even though she wanted to 'postpone the questioning due to fatigue'. Lazović got involved in the implementation of that case," said Janičić.
The trial continues on December 22.
Bonus video:
