Court of Appeal: Members of criminal organization organized by Mile Radulović sentenced to 26 years in prison

The Court of Appeals overturned the verdict of the Higher Court in Podgorica and imposed stricter prison sentences totaling 26 years on members of the criminal organization organized by Mile Radulović.

The Court of Appeal announced that the court rejected as unfounded the appeals of the defense lawyers of the accused Martin and Stefan Janković, Edin and Elvin Muratović, Vladimir Ulama, Marko Peruničić and Stefan Micić, against the verdict of the Higher Court in Podgorica, while upholding the appeal of the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) and revising that verdict with regard to the decision on the sentence.

"By sentencing the defendants to prison sentences totaling 26 years for the criminal offense of creating a criminal organization," the Court of Appeal said.

They said that in this way the court proceedings against that criminal organization have been finally concluded.

"By the verdict of the High Court in Podgorica, Special Department for the Trial of Criminal Offenses of Organized Crime, Corruption, Terrorism and War Crimes, the accused Martin and Stefan Janković, Edin and Elvin Muratović, Ulama, Peruničić and Micić were found guilty of the criminal offense of creating a criminal organization and sentenced to prison terms totaling 19 years," the statement said.

In the appeals process, the Court of Appeals assessed that the first-instance verdict did not contain any significant violations of the provisions of criminal procedure, that the decisive facts were correctly and completely established, and that the presented evidence was correctly assessed, which is why the correctness of the established factual situation was not called into question by the allegations in the appeals of the defendants' defense attorneys.

According to the Court of Appeal, the first-instance proceedings correctly established that the accused acted as members of an organized criminal group organized by Mile Radulović, with clearly divided roles, continuous communication, and a pre-determined plan to commit an unspecified number of criminal offenses of aggravated murder and manslaughter.

The Court of Appeal stated that it was pointed out that the first instance court correctly accepted the communications made via the SKY ECC application, considering that they were submitted through international legal assistance from the competent judicial authority of France and that they represent legally obtained evidence, the authenticity of which was not called into question by the defense's objections.

"However, in the opinion of the Court of Appeal, as well-foundedly stated in the SDT's appeal, the sentences imposed on the accused do not sufficiently reflect the extremely high level of social danger of the criminal offense with which the accused are charged, that the manner of committing the planned criminal offenses implied prior preparation, premeditation and persistence to an extent that significantly exceeds that required for the existence of the elements of the criminal offense for which the accused were found guilty," the statement says.

The Court of Appeal said that it was pointed out that when determining the sentence, the fact that the defendants had become members of a criminal organization whose goal was to take the lives of other people should have been taken into account.

"The very act of forming a criminal organization demonstrates a high degree of criminal will and determination to systematically and over a long period of time violate the lawfulness and security of society, and that the sentences imposed do not provide adequate protection of basic social values ​​from organized crime," the Court of Appeal stated.

They said that for these reasons, the court reversed the sentencing decision and sentenced the defendants to more severe prison sentences totaling 26 years, finding that the sentences imposed would achieve the purpose of punishment.