The Court of Appeal of Montenegro reversed the verdict of the Higher Court in Podgorica of April 14 this year regarding the decision on the sentence and sentenced the accused RV for two extended criminal offenses of rape and two criminal offenses of domestic violence to a single prison sentence of 14 years and 10 months, including the time he spent in detention.
By the verdict of the Higher Court in Podgorica, the accused RV was found guilty of the aforementioned criminal offenses and sentenced to a single prison sentence of 9 years and 2 months, which included the time he spent in custody, the Court of Appeal announced.
Appeals against the first-instance verdict were filed by the defendant's defense attorney and the Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica, and the Court of Appeal found the defense attorney's appeal unfounded, while the prosecution's appeal was well-founded.
"According to the finding of the Court of Appeal, the first instance court, contrary to the allegations in the appeal of the defendant's defense counsel, in a legally conducted procedure established to a certain extent all the facts necessary for the proper assessment of both the existence of the offense and the guilt of the defendant, whereby the Criminal Code was correctly applied to his actions, and therefore the allegations raised in the appeal of the defendant's defense counsel that the contested verdict was rendered with significant violations of the provisions of criminal procedure and with the incorrect application of substantive law were unfounded. This court also examined the contested verdict in the part of the decision on the sentence upon appeal by the Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica, and assessed that the first instance court did not sufficiently evaluate all the circumstances that are relevant to the amount of the sentence, for which reasons it modified the decision in this part. In the opinion of the Court of Appeal, the imposed single prison sentence represents an adequate sentence for the gravity of the criminal offenses and the degree of guilt of the defendant, so it is to be expected that it will achieve the purpose of punishment within the general purpose of imposing criminal sanctions," the explanation states.
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