Defense after 105-year prison sentence: Act of retaliation, not application of law

The defense team of the defendants in the case in which the High Court imposed cumulative prison sentences of 105 years, including a long-term prison sentence of 40 years, announced that they express their strongest protest against the verdict:

"Which, in terms of its content and the level of punishment, represents an act of retaliation, not the application of law," the statement reads.

By the first-instance verdict of the Podgorica Higher Court, they were sentenced to a total of 105 years in prison. Vladan Radoman and others accused of murder Andrije Gazivoda i Petar Muhadinović, but also the creation of a criminal organization and the sale of marijuana.

"This decision does not belong to modern criminal law. The court accepted the construction according to which the presumed intention and interpretation of SKY communications are sufficient to impose draconian sentences, even though there is no specific act of commission, nor an attempt at a criminal offense, nor evidence of an agreement or order. This equates the thought with the committed offense, contrary to the basic principles of the Criminal Code and case law."

It is stated that the imposition of a sentence of 40 years based on factual material which, they claim, does not contain any direct message, any evidence of implementation, or individualization of guilt is of particular concern.

Such an approach, according to them, violates the principles of legality, proportionality and the prohibition of analogy.

"A court that imposes such sentences without solid evidence does not establish facts - it constructs them. This blurs the line between justice and arbitrariness, and legal certainty becomes an illusion. If it is possible to impose a long-term prison sentence without concrete action and without direct evidence, then every citizen is potentially exposed to arbitrary punishment. The sentences that have been imposed, by their severity and sum, actually have the character of a symbolic life imprisonment, contrary to the spirit of the law and the principles of a fair trial."

They announced that the defense team would use all available legal means before domestic and international institutions to have the verdict reviewed.

"To remain silent in the face of such conduct would mean abandoning the elementary principles of the rule of law," the statement reads.