Trial for the murder of Kruščić and wounding of Lakić: Rakočević requested that his detention be lifted and house arrest be ordered

Defendant Goran Rakočević requested today in the Podgorica Higher Court that his detention be lifted and house arrest be ordered, claiming that his right to a fair trial has been violated and that there is no evidence against him for the criminal offenses that the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) is charging him with.

Rakočević addressed the court at a hearing in the proceedings against a fourteen-member group accused of the murder of Miodrag Kruščić and the wounding of "Vijesti" journalist Olivera Lakić. Today's hearing was held before the panel of judge Radovan Vlaović.

At the beginning of the hearing, it was stated that the request for the disqualification of the president of the panel, which was sent by registered mail by defense attorney Marko Milošević, had been rejected. After a break, the court announced that the request was unfounded, as were previous requests of this kind in this case.

Addressing the court, Rakočević stated that he had been in custody for eight years and assessed that, in the context of European standards and negotiation chapters, the length of detention should also be taken into account.

He claimed that the Sky communications, which he quoted in court, suggest that the case against the accused is being "rigged". He said that the messages, according to his allegations, also mention the people allegedly behind it, and that they are offered to take on the crime.

Rakočević stressed that he did not use the "sky" application, but he cited several messages before the council that he believes confirm his claims. He also spoke about, as he claims, illogicalities in the investigation, stating that the case was first handled by the Higher State Prosecutor's Office, and that it was then taken over by the SDT and presented the circumstances of the discovery of the weapon differently.

Expert witness Božidar Bakić was also heard at today's hearing. The defense challenged his findings in the part that relates to the ammunition that, according to the indictment, is linked to the accused Darko Lalović. Lalović and his defense attorney Nikola Ivanović questioned the fact that the expert concluded that the ammunition was safe based on a physical examination, without a test firing. Bakić explained that such an approach is often used when it comes to factory ammunition, and that the Forensic Center did not have the appropriate weapons to test that caliber.

Attorney Miloš Vuksanović commented on the previously read finding relating to the accused Mario Milošević, describing it as manipulative and stating that the expert himself questioned his own finding in a note.

Milan Vujotić, former policeman Darko Lalović, Filip Knežević, Mario Milošević, Goran Rakočević, Veselin Bubanja, Filip Bešović, Luka Bulatović, Dejan Vukašinović, Branislav Karadžić, Goran Vukčević, Mijajlo Stojanović, Aleksandar Ljumović and Sanja Božović are included in the indictment.

A subject that lasts for years

"Vijesti" journalist Olivera Lakić was wounded on May 8, 2018, in front of her building in Podgorica, when an attacker shot her in the leg. Eight years later, the end of the first-instance trial against those accused of attempting to murder her is still in sight.

The case of the attack on Lakić has since been merged with the case of the murder of Miodrag Kruščić, after investigators determined that the same criminal organization was behind both cases, according to the indictment. Kruščić was killed on May 21, 2018, in a bar at the Old Airport in Podgorica, while the indictment names Mario Milošević as the direct perpetrator of the murder.

According to the SDT, members of a criminal group allegedly organized by Milan Vujotić had been following Lakić for a long time before the attack. The prosecution also claims that during the investigation, her liquidation was planned from prison, but that the plan was thwarted after Bajram Pista gave up the execution and agreed to cooperate with investigators.

In the same case, in addition to the attack on Lakić and the murder of Kruščić, the defendants are also charged with other criminal offenses, including smuggling 554 kilograms of marijuana from Albania to Montenegro in January 2021.