Trial in the "Gornje Zaostro" case postponed again; Pejović: Classic obstruction

The hearing before the Berane Basic Court against defendants Nikola Raičević and Milić Ralević in the "Gornje Zaostro" case has been postponed again, this time because Raičević requested the disqualification of the judge, the president of that institution, Ivan Došljak.

Raičević and Ralević are suspected of attempting to force "Vijesti" photojournalist Boris Pejović to delete photographs of the removal of a monument to the notorious Chetnik commander Pavle Đurišić on August 8 last year in the village of Gornje Zaostro in Berane.

Raičević today submitted a request for disqualification to Judge Došljak, citing the alleged conflict between the judge and Raičević's father, who is employed at the Berane Basic Court.

The president of the High Court in Bijelo Polje will decide on this request.

Pejović pointed out that it cannot be a coincidence that the trial, i.e. the main hearings, are continuously postponed.

"If there was a need for that disqualification, it should have been requested immediately when the defendant Raičević learned of the alleged reason for the judge's disqualification, which leads to the conclusion that this was a classic obstruction of the criminal proceedings," Pejović assessed.

This is the fifth time that the hearing in this case has been postponed (twice in December last year, once in January and once in February this year), and the reasons for these postponements were the alleged illnesses of the defendants, as well as their defense attorneys.

Two separate cases are being heard before the Basic Court in Berane over an incident in Gornji Zaostr, when a group of locals attacked photojournalists from "Vijesti" and "Pobjeda", Boris Pejović and Stevo Vasiljević. They were reporting on the removal of a monument to Chetnik leader and war criminal Pavle Đurišić.

The first proceedings began on October 13th against Danko Femić, who was charged with the criminal offense of coercion to the detriment of a photojournalist.

The second trial, in which Nikola Raičević and Milić Ralević are charged with the same crime, was scheduled to begin on December 5. However, the hearing was then postponed due to the failure of the defendant Ralević to appear. The next hearing was also postponed due to the absence of his defense attorney.

At the end of December last year, the Misdemeanor Court in Bijelo Polje - Berane Department imposed an educational measure of increased parental supervision on two minors, lasting at least one month and a maximum of six months, for their impudent and insulting behavior towards photojournalist Pejović in the village of Gornje Zaostro near Berane on August 8 last year, during the removal of a memorial to Pavle Đurišić.