"The only truth in the indictment is that I am an unconvicted person, all other evidence is illegal and incorrect. This indictment is illegal and I expect it to be dismissed. The day I will be arrested has been chosen, and my hairdresser is also being followed," said businessman Aco Đukanović, brother of former President Milo Đukanović.
The Basic Court in Nikšić held a review of the indictment filed by the Basic State Prosecutor's Office in that city against Đukanović today, on suspicion that he committed the criminal offense of illegal possession and carrying of weapons and explosives.
The acting prosecutor, Vanja Sinđić, assessed that the indictment was well-founded, stating that an expert examination at the Forensic Center in Danilovgrad determined that the weapons and ammunition found were functional, and that the defendant did not have the appropriate weapons licenses.
Sinđić, responding to the defense's allegations, said that it could be agreed that the electronic records of the Directorate for Civil Status and Personal Data do not contain data kept manually until 2008, but she pointed out that the Prosecutor's Office had obtained and compared official data. She added that the weapons in this case had no connection to the weapons that, according to Đukanović's report, were stolen from his family home in 2009.
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She added that the weapons in this case have no connection to the weapons that, according to Đukanović's report, were stolen from his family home in 2009.
Lawyer Neda Ivović pointed out the specific and difficult circumstances in which the Đukanović family finds itself, emphasizing that the house arrest measure has led to a severe and disproportionate infringement of his right to family life.
As she stated, Đukanović's minor children, who are in a boarding school regime, have been practically left without direct parental support, while their mother is simultaneously undergoing serious medical treatment.
According to Ivović, in these circumstances, Đukanović is in fact the only parent who can provide stability to the family, and his imprisonment has prevented him from performing basic parental functions.
Ivović further emphasized that this case is a cumulative effect of multiple illegal actions. She revealed that the police, beyond the purpose of the proceedings themselves, collected data on Đukanović's whereabouts, family and children through international cooperation, which she assessed as an impermissible and unfounded interference with privacy without a procedural and material basis.
Criticizing the work of the investigative authorities, Ivović stated that the search of the family home was carried out based on "unverified operational information", without an explanation of its source and without a proportionality test, which directly violated the right to a home.
The defense considers the violation of the principles of a fair trial and "equality of arms" to be particularly worrying, because, according to Ivović, the court is being provided with "edited" versions of documents instead of the original ones, thus denying the defense the right to challenge the evidence.
Djukanovic's defense
Đukanović said before Judge Mirko Kojović that everything he did was legal and announced criminal charges against the acting assistant director of the Police Administration, Lazar Šćepanović, and certain MPs, claiming that the proceedings against him were announced in parliament. He explained that he has a license for one hunting rifle, while he claims that the remaining three were gifts to his brother and father, and that he has evidence of their origin.
During his defense, Đukanović spoke in detail about each weapon he was charged with, stating their origin and the circumstances under which they arrived at the family home.
Regarding the rifle found in the house, he said that there is documentation and a plaque with a dedication from which it can be determined that it was a gift from the Ministry of National Defense to his brother Milo Đukanović, who gave it to their father on the same day, where, according to him, it stood in the room until his death. He stated that he had not entered that room since 2010, and that his son had stayed there, adding that he would not leave a child sleeping in a room with weapons. He pointed out that during the search, police officers opened the closet and climbed to the top of it, where the rifle was located, which, he claims, indicates that they had prior information about its location.
He stated that the "pump-action" rifle was a family heirloom, a gift from the family of a relative who was killed, and that he had registered it, adding that he later found a firearms license signed by a CB officer, Nikšić Bigović, with whom, he said, he spoke to seeking information about the permits, because the files state that he does not have them, while he claims to have them.
Speaking about the hunting carbine with an optical sight, he reiterated that it was a gift from the Ministry of Defense to his brother, about which, he said, he has a resolution that he will submit to the court.
Regarding the M48 carbine with engraving on the stock, which he stated was made by the Nikšić craftsman "Barac", he said that it was a gift to his father from Rade Nikolić, in his presence and that of his family members, and that he believed that there was a license for that weapon.
Regarding the fourth rifle, he stated that it was given to his father in 1993 by the State Security Service, emphasizing that there are witnesses to this.
Djukanovic said that in 1974 he moved to Podgorica after his father was elected a judge of the Supreme Court, and that he occasionally stayed in the family home in Nikšić, where he lived for a time after 2000, after the birth of his child.
He added that in 2009, while staying in that house, he noticed that his personal belongings, including four pistols, had been stolen, stating that he had properly issued permits from the Nikšić Security Center for three of them, while for the fourth he had a certificate that served as a substitute for a permit.
He said that he had filed a criminal complaint on this occasion and had given the police information about the persons he suspected, as well as a detailed description of the people who were staying in the house, including the housekeeper and the gardener. He stated that after the report, a CB Nikšić officer, Velibor Koprivica, came to the house, to whom, as he claims, he expressed his suspicions about the gardener, adding that Koprivica then said that the person in question was his close friend.
Đukanović stated that after that, some of his acquaintances were sent for polygraph testing, and that the police conducted an on-site investigation and an inspection of the house, but that, as he claims, there was no epilogue in the case for 17 years, nor were any actions taken that would lead to the investigation of the theft.
He added that he believes that it was this report from 2009 that was later used as part of the material in this case, claiming that this explains why, according to him, police officers had precise information about the location of the weapons during the search.
Speaking about the searches, he stated that in the requests to search his apartment in Podgorica, police officers listed a number of items, including bulletproof vests, helmets, SAJ equipment and uniforms, as well as items in a Louis Vuitton bag, with a precise description of their location, which, he claims, indicates that this information was known in advance.
He said that nothing was found during the search in Podgorica, after which, according to him, Koprivica, using the same information, requested a search warrant for the family home in Nikšić, where, as he stated, there are four houses with multiple attics, emphasizing that police officers immediately directed their actions towards the specific attic where most of the weapons and ammunition were found.
He added that Koprivica, according to his claims, did not submit complete documentation from the case related to his criminal complaint to the prosecutor's office, which is why he believes that part of the documentation is being concealed.
"I can only sue the state, and I'm reluctant to do that... I've sued the state two or three times and once I didn't sleep for seven days, once for 45 days. I don't want to sue the state if I don't have to, but I don't see how I can fight these things because I'm not a liar, and the prosecution is accusing me of being a liar," said Đukanović.
He stated that he had not been in contact with the found weapon, referring to the results of DNA testing, and pointed to what he claims are deficiencies in the case files, stating that certain documentation was not submitted to the prosecution, and that certain information was obtained without the engagement of a court interpreter.
Speaking about the border police data, he stated that they show that he was abroad, including Luxembourg in early 2021, which is why he considers the claims that he had actual possession of the house where the weapons were found to be contradictory at the same time.
Referring to the allegations of the National Security Agency (ANB), Đukanović said that he considers them incorrect and "ridiculous", claiming that the document, in his opinion, does not tell the truth and that its author, namely director Ivica Janović, should be heard in the proceedings.
The ANB previously stated in a statement, as reported by the media, that their officers had not entered the Đukanović family home for more than two decades, and that they had no connection to the discovery of weapons in the Rastoci neighborhood in Nikšić, nor that the weapons or ammunition found originated from their structures.
The second defense attorney, attorney Slobodan Stašević, pointed out that there was no evidence that the weapons were illegal, because the Prosecution did not check the manually kept records until 2008. He pointed out that there were no DNA traces or other material evidence that would confirm that Đukanović had been in contact with the weapons in question, and requested that the supervision measures be relaxed, explaining that he had shown good behavior during the proceedings and offered bail.
The hearing is scheduled to continue tomorrow at 10:15 a.m.
Aco Đukanović, brother of former President and Prime Minister of Montenegro Milo Đukanović, was arrested on February 28 after a search of the family home in the Nikšić neighborhood of Rastoci, when he was remanded in custody due to the risk of flight.
The court later accepted the bail offered by his defense attorneys, in the amount of one million euros in cash, with the registration of a mortgage on real estate worth more than four million euros, as well as supervision measures - a ban on leaving the apartment with electronic monitoring and the temporary seizure of his travel document.
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