Pavicevic: Liquidation of Belivuk and Miljkovic paid 700.000 euros

Police Administration officer Milovan Pavicevic, former head of the Podgorica Security Center, said that they had operational information that an opposing organized crime group intended to kill Veljko Belivuk and Marko Miljkovic for 700.000 euros.

With the testimony of Pavićević and the former head of the General Crime Department of the Police Directorate, Aleksandar Bošković, the trial of former Police Directorate official Zoran Lazović, former Chief Special Prosecutor Milivoj Katnić and Special Prosecutor Saša Čađenović, for creating a criminal organization, abuse of official position and money laundering, continued today at the Podgorica Higher Court.

Before the special panel presided over by Judge Veljko Radovanović, today, Special Prosecutor Miloš Šoškić requested that the public be excluded, but the defense opposed this.

Šoškić stated that this would preserve data related to operational work and cooperating witnesses. The court rejected the prosecutor's proposal and stated that the witness did not name cooperating witnesses even in his statement before the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT).

Milovan Pavicevic said that everything he says in court is the truth, because everything can be verified.

"We had operational information that a rival organized crime group intended to kill Belivuk and Miljković for 700.000 euros. If there had been an attempt to liquidate Serbian citizens Veljko Belivuk and Marko Miljković at Tivat Airport in 2021, it would certainly have been a terrorist act, because the act would have been committed in the airport building. Belivuk and Miljković illegally entered Montenegro in 2020," said Pavićević.

He stated that a decision on the entry ban should be distinguished from the so-called operational, internal measure regarding the notification of the entry ban.

"I was informed on January 16, 2021, by the Chief of the Belgrade Police, Veselin Milić, that they were aware that Belivuk and Miljković had booked a plane ticket from Belgrade to Tivat. He informed me of the flight time and date. I said that I would inform the Head of the Department for Combating Organized Crime, Milorad Žižić, and his colleagues about this. The Chief of the Belgrade Police also sent me a message that I forwarded to Žižić as the person responsible for the organized crime sector. Milić also called me on January 17 to ask whether the persons had been located and under police surveillance, whether their movements and contacts were being monitored. I said that I was not territorially competent because it was Tivat, but that I had informed my colleagues," said Pavićević.

He added that he had learned that a rival criminal group was planning to liquidate Belivuk and Miljković after they left Montenegro, while they were checking in at Tivat Airport. He said that it was urgent to act to collect evidence and prevent the liquidation.

He stated that this was operational information he received from his associates, as part of which they learned that the primary target was Belivuk and that the criminal group had provided 700.000 euros for the murder.

"I am talking about the period when we have information that the liquidation of Slobodan Kašćelan was planned in the same time period, and we also worked to prevent it. At that time, we were also working on shedding light on the planning of the murder of Marko Ljubiša Kan in Budva. I can say at the state, local and international levels that all three actions were successfully completed. When we received this initial information that the killing of Belivuk and Miljković was planned, we delivered this information to the then Assistant Director of the Police Administration, Zoran Lazović. Otherwise, if there had been at least an attempt to liquidate Belivuk and Miljković at Tivat Airport, I could say that it would have been a terrorist act, bearing in mind the place where it would have happened, namely the Tivat Airport building," Pavićević pointed out and continued:

"I would like to clarify that we need to distinguish between the so-called decisions banning entry into Montenegro for some persons for which it is necessary to obtain a decision and the opinion of the ANB, acting in accordance with the Law on Foreigners, from the so-called operational, internal activity regarding this notification of banning entry, which is the case with Belivuk and Miljković. Otherwise, as far as the police are concerned, this notification serves to monitor the movements and contacts of persons for whom there is operational information that they are members of the OKG or BIL. We have a situation where Belivuk and Miljković entered Montenegro illegally in October 2020, and the police in Montenegro knew nothing about it at that moment. A liquidation took place on the territory of Montenegro. The police only have information that two Montenegrin citizens are missing, they are working on the case and are obtaining encrypted phones."

Responding to a question from lawyer Zoran Piperović, the witness said:

"What I know from the statements of Zoran Lazović and witness Milorad Žižić is that Belivuk and Miljković were under police surveillance while they were in Montenegro. And if that is the case, I believe that they could not have posed a threat to national security. They were under police surveillance 24 hours a day."

Bošković: I received a verbal order from Baković

Police Department official Aleksandar Bošković said today that he believes that in 2018, Veljko Belivuk and Marko Miljković were banned from entering Montenegro because they were members of fan groups and a threat to security.

"The measure was lifted on December 28, 2020, after I received a verbal order from Enis Baković. My officer removed the electronic notification for the measure of banning entry into Montenegro from the Police Directorate system. I then informed Baković about this. When I asked Baković why the measure was being lifted, he said that it was being lifted for operational needs due to the case being worked on. I remember that it was I, then the Head of the Department for Suppression of General Crime, who, through my colleagues from Serbia, submitted a list of persons from Serbia, including Belivuk and Miljković. For the first time since 2016, the Police Directorate has introduced this electronic notification for the ban on entry into Montenegro, and for a larger number of persons. As for the persons who were on this list of banning measures, we did so based on data that we would also receive from partner security services," he said.

Responding to a question from lawyer Zoran Piperović, Bošković stated that they found the basis for the aforementioned notification in the Law on Foreigners.

"In December 2020, when this measure was lifted, I had no information, as the Head of the Department for Suppression of General Crime, that Belivuk and Miljković had committed any criminal offense on the territory of Montenegro, nor that they were preparing to commit any offense," said Bošković.