Đurica: I did not sell cigarettes to any criminal organization

Defendant Slobodan Đurica admitted today in his defense before the Higher Court in Podgorica that he smuggled cigarettes, but exclusively independently, that he bought packs of cigarettes from Velimir Milačić on credit, and then he himself determined the prices at which he would resell them.

The trial of those accused of cigarette smuggling and the creation of a criminal organization, Mujo Mujević from Rožaje, the owner of the company "Agrarija" Velimir Milačić, the owner of "Bat Bojana" Žarko Bulatović, Slobodan Đurica and Enis Kajević, began on April 3rd.

"I was never a member of the criminal organization mentioned in the indictment, nor did I know that it existed. I never received orders or instructions from that organization. I did not sell cigarettes, I did not store them in my warehouse, or in any warehouse, including this criminal organization. I worked exclusively for myself. I bought them for myself on credit, and paid for them when I sold them, at the purchase price, and kept the difference for myself. I rented the warehouse for myself and paid the monthly rent. I sold the cigarettes to my customers that I found. No one had any influence on my way of doing business. I was sovereign, no one gave me orders. I do not admit that I committed the criminal offense of creating a criminal organization, nor my guilt. I stand by the defense that I gave in the SDT in April 2025. I would now like to clarify a few of my answers to the special prosecutor's questions, which are the result of my poorly formulated answers. The prosecutor asked me if there was any discussion in the cafe about cigarette smuggling from the Port of Bar. I did not answer. "Affirmative. I said that I am not interested in such stories and that is a general position, not that cigarette smuggling was discussed in that cafe and that I was not involved," the defendant Đurica stated today before the special panel of judge Nada Rabrenović.

The judge then read his defense before the SDT, in which Đurica stated that it was true that he was engaged in cigarette sales in 2019, 2020, and 2021.

"We knew that we were gathering at the 'Pečurka' cafe. Žarko Bulatović often came there. I knew that Milačić had been selling cigarettes for a long time. I bought cigarettes from him, and sometimes he would offer me cigarettes. Nijesa did not have a large income, it was about 2.000 to 3.000 euros per month. I took about 100 packages per month from Milačić," he said in the investigation. Today he added that he formed the price of cigarettes himself.

Attorney Miloš Vukčević specifically pointed out to the court the fact that the accused Slobodan Đurica, while presenting his defense today, completely stuck to the defense he gave before the SDT.

"This all points to the credibility of his entire defense," emphasized the defense attorney for the defendant, Đurić.

Defendant Velimir Milačić objected to his defense, while Žarko Bulatović stated that he had never had any communication with Đurica.

Lawyer Milena Đurković and lawyer Ranko Radonjić, defense attorneys for defendants Mujo Mujević and Bulatović, objected to the evidence proposed in the indictment.

After the court presented as evidence the Berane OB diary from March 3, 2021, which stated that a large quantity of cigarettes were found in a jeep without license plates in the yard of Mujo Mujević's house, the defense objected.

"I notice that this document does not contain anyone's signature, nor the seal of the Police Directorate of Montenegro, and therefore its authenticity cannot be verified, nor can the facts stated in it be verified," lawyer Radonjić pointed out.

Special Prosecutor Ivan Medojević emphasized that this is legal evidence. The Special State Prosecutor's Office filed an indictment against the defendants Mujo H. Mujević from Rožaje, Velimir B. Milačić from Podgorica, Žarko Đ. Bulatović from Podgorica, Enis A. Kajević from Rožaje and the accused Slobodan A. Đurić from Nikšić. It is alleged that in 2019, in Montenegro, aware of the crime they wanted to commit, the defendant Mujo Mujević, together with another, currently unknown organizer of the criminal organization, organized a criminal organization whose goal was to commit an unspecified number of criminal offenses of smuggling under Article 265, paragraph 21 3 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro.

The unknown organizer planned for himself to determine when members of the criminal organization should take over the duty-free cigarettes from the free customs zone of the Port of Bar, the place and time when and where other members of the criminal organization should bring trucks with trailers into which these cigarettes would be loaded, and the place and time where and when the trucks and trailers loaded with duty-free cigarettes would be taken over, and to inform the defendant Mujo Mujević about this, in order to provide him with information about the trucks and trailers that members of the criminal organization would bring to load the cigarettes.

While the defendant Mujević, as the organizer, determined for himself that he would recruit other members of the criminal organization himself or through others, and thus he recruited the defendant Velimir Milačić, and through others the defendants Žarko Bulatović, Enis Kajević and Slobodan Đurica, to assign them roles and tasks and issue orders and instructions regarding the smuggling of the criminal organization's untaxed cigarettes, after they were taken out of the Port of Bar and loaded into trucks with trailers, and that he would supervise and control other members of the criminal organization in the performance of their assigned roles and tasks, to sell the criminal organization's untaxed cigarettes in Serbia and Kosovo, and to take over and keep the criminal organization's money obtained from the sale of untaxed cigarettes. Thus, the members of the criminal organization from the organization became unknown persons and the defendants Velimir Milačić, Zarko Bulatović, Enis Kajević, Slobodan Đurica, who accepted the tasks.

By which the defendant Mujo Mujević committed the criminal offense of creating a criminal organization under Article 401 a, paragraph 1, in conjunction with paragraph 6 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro, and the defendants Velimir Milačić, Žarko Bulatović, Enis Kajević and Slobodan Đurica committed the criminal offense of creating a criminal organization under Article 401 a, paragraph 2, in conjunction with paragraphs 1 and 6 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro.

Cigarettes in the amount of 42.827 packages were sold on several occasions in Serbia and Kosovo, by unknown members of the criminal organization, who drove them away in combined vehicles and handed them over to unknown buyers. Thus, by not paying customs duties, excise duties and taxes for the amount of cigarettes sold, the defendants obtained material gain for the criminal organization, and caused damage to the injured party, Montenegro, in the amount of at least 33,182,320.05 euros, the indictment states, among other things.