Police reported that Lidija Mitrović had not been found 16 days after the court issued the warrant for her arrest.

On January 14, the Basic Court in Podgorica issued an order for the forcible transfer of convicted former special prosecutor Lidija Mitrović to the Directorate for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions, and the police only sent the court a letter on January 30, or 16 days later, stating that she was not at the registered address.

This follows from a press release from the Basic Court, which states that the court and the police acted promptly in the process of executing Lidija Mitrović's sentence, and that the court ordered the issuance of an arrest warrant on the same day that the conditions for it were met.

At the end of May last year, the former special state prosecutor was sentenced to seven months in prison for abuse of office in the "Klap" case.

The police announced yesterday that they were taking measures and actions to find and bring in former special state prosecutor Lidija Mitrović, who did not voluntarily report to serve her prison sentence. Later, when suspicions arose that Mitrović had absconded, the Police Directorate (PD) said that she was not subject to the obligation of the PD officers to act until the Basic Court in Podgorica issued an order for her forcible bringing in.

The Basic Court in Podgorica said that on July 31, 2025, a case was opened for the execution of a prison sentence pursuant to a final judgment of the Higher Court in Podgorica, which sentenced Lidija Mitrović to seven months in prison for the continued criminal offense of abuse of official position.

"After the case was formed, the convicted person was summoned on August 11, 2025 to report to the court on August 26, 2025 to receive the referral document for serving the sentence. Since the summons was not properly served, the court renewed the delivery, and on September 29, 2025, the convicted person was served with the referral document on the court premises. The convicted person Lidija Mitrović, in accordance with the law, filed a request for a postponement of the execution of the sentence, with attached medical documentation. After the medical examination was conducted, the Basic Court in Podgorica rejected her request as unfounded by a decision dated October 24, 2025. Within the legal deadline, the convicted person filed an appeal through her attorney, after which the case files were submitted to the Higher Court in Podgorica for a decision," the statement reads.

By a decision of the Higher Court in Podgorica dated December 23, 2025, the appeal of the convicted person's attorney was rejected as unfounded, and the case files were returned to the Basic Court in Podgorica the following day.

"After the decision of the Higher Court was duly forwarded to the convicted person, her then attorney (whose power of attorney she had in the meantime cancelled) and the Administration for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions (UIKS), and bearing in mind that the convicted person did not report for the purpose of being sent to serve her sentence, the court issued an order on January 14, 2026 for the forcible transfer of the convicted person to UIKS. Acting on the aforementioned order, the Police Administration informed the court by letter dated January 30, 2026, which the court received on February 2, 2026, that they had not been able to find the convicted person at the registered address, and that there was a reasonable suspicion that she was evading the police. Bearing in mind the above, the Basic Court in Podgorica issued an order on the same day, February 2, 2026, to issue an arrest warrant for Lidija Mitrović," the Basic Court said in a statement.