Eight years without an epilogue: The trial for the attempted murder of Olivera Lakić is still ongoing

Not even eight years after journalist Olivera Lakić was shot in the leg in front of the building where she lives in Podgorica, the end of the first-instance trial of those accused of attempting to murder her is still not in sight.

The proceedings for the attack on Lakić have meanwhile been merged with the case for the murder of Miodrag Kruščić, after investigators determined that the same criminal organization was behind both cases, and that it is also charged with other serious crimes.

The indictment includes Milan Vujotic, former police officer Darko Lalovic, Mario Milosevic, Goran Rakocevic, Veselin Bubanja, Filip Besovic, Luka Bulatovic, Dejan Vukasinovic, Branislav Karadzic, Goran Vukcevic, Mijajlo Stojanovic, Aleksandar Ljumovic and Sanja Bozovic.

They are also charged with smuggling 554 kilograms of marijuana from Albania to Montenegro on January 26, 2021.

The last trial was postponed on April 26th, after the accused Goran Rakočević cancelled his attorney's power of attorney, which meant that the conditions for holding the main hearing were not met. The trial is scheduled to continue on May 12th.

According to the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT), members of Milan Vujotić's criminal group followed Lakić for a long period of time before waiting for her in front of the building where she lives on May 8, 2018, and wounding her with a shot in the leg.

The prosecution also claims that during the investigation into the attack, her liquidation was planned from prison, but that this plan was prevented after Bajram Pista gave up on the execution and agreed to cooperate with investigators.

Pista was arrested on April 29, 2019, and did not appear in court for more than a year.

He later decided to cooperate with the prosecution and spoke in detail about planning the attack on the journalist.

Previously published transcripts of communication from the once protected Sky app showed that former police officer Petar Lazović, according to the SDT, was trying to obstruct the investigation into the attempted murder of the journalist after Pista decided to speak before special prosecutors and admit his role, as well as that of other defendants, in the crime.

Communication between Lazović and fugitive police officer Ljubo Milović, which the European Law Enforcement Agency (Europol) had previously provided to Montenegrin investigators, suggests that they discussed ways to challenge Pista's testimony and the results of the polygraph test.

Pista told investigators that Jovan Mirković, the former driver of the alleged leader of the Kavak clan, Slobodan Kašćelan, connected him to a criminal group that asked him to kill Lakić, as well as Budva residents Marko Ljubiša Kan and Goran Slovinić Bralo.

He claims that he was offered 200.000 euros for the murder of the journalist, with the explanation that she "saw some notebook".

According to his claims, Veselin Bubanja told him in the Spusk prison that Lakić "saw something she shouldn't have," after which she began being monitored and photographed, and the information was allegedly forwarded to the now deceased Filip Knežević.

Pista also claimed that Filip Bešović was the driver while following the journalist and that he reported when she was alone and when she could be approached.

According to transcripts of communication from the Sky app, Lazović then tried to devise a strategy to protect the person who ordered the attempted murder, whom he addressed in the messages by the nickname Ribić.

In his communication with Milović on November 20, 2020, he asks him to speak with Komit, or Radoje Zvicer, to agree on who to send for a polygraph test and thus try to dispute what Pista admitted.

During that period, he was an officer in the Special Operational Support Department within the Sector for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption.

The then special prosecutor, now the defendant Saša Čađenović, announced in late 2020 that the motive for the attack on Lakić was an attempt to prevent him from investigating the activities of criminal organizations and their connections with groups from the region.

During the investigation, Pista also spoke about other criminal acts that, according to his claims, are linked to members of the Kavač clan, including planning murders, planting explosives, and organizing Mario Milošević's escape from prison.