How did the council sentence Glavaš to 25 years in prison?

When today the panel of the Special Department of the Higher Court in Podgorica publicly announced the verdict against the defendant Igor Glavaš, for membership in a criminal organization and aiding and abetting the murder of Šćepan Roganović, by which he was sentenced in the first instance to a single sentence of 25 years in prison, numerous lawyers were surprised by the length of the sentence, explaining that this figure cannot be measured at all according to the current Criminal Code of Montenegro.

The first-instance decision was made by a three-member panel of judges Nada Rabrenović and Goran Šćepanović, chaired by judge Vesna Kovačević.

Whether this was an oversight or something else, and how the panel found itself in a kind of legal limbo while determining the length of the sentence, will be determined during the appeal proceedings before the Court of Appeal, and "Vijesti" did not receive a response from the Higher Court in Podgorica during the day to its questions to clarify how the length of the sentence for Igor Glavaš was decided, and whether the Criminal Code recognizes a range of sentences between 20 and 30 years for the criminal offenses he was charged with.

Lawyer Maja Turković, the attorney for the injured Roganović family, told "Vijesti" that she was satisfied with the length of the sentence imposed on Glavaš for the criminal offenses he was charged with.

However, as she explained, even in the courtroom during the public announcement of the first-instance verdict, she was surprised by the length of the sentence of 25 years, which is why she thought that the panel might have made a mistake.

"I believe that the court incorrectly applied the law when imposing a single sentence, because a prison sentence of 25 years is not provided for by the Criminal Code, and that, taking into account the legally prescribed range of long-term imprisonment, a sentence of 35 years should have been considered, as proposed by the prosecution," Turković stated.

Lawyer Veselin Radulović, commenting on today's first-instance decision in the proceedings against Igor Glavaš, explained that the single sentence of 25 years has no basis in the current rules on sentencing for concurrent criminal offenses.

"If a defendant is sentenced to a single prison sentence of 25 years for multiple concurrent criminal offenses pursuant to Article 48 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro, such a decision is, at first glance, in contradiction with the express provision of paragraph 2, item 2 of that article, which stipulates that a single prison sentence cannot exceed 20 years. The only exception prescribed by Article 48, paragraph 2, item 1 of the Criminal Code exists when a long-term prison sentence has been determined for one of the concurrent criminal offenses, but even then no new or increased single sentence is imposed, but only that long-term prison sentence. Since a long-term prison sentence, according to the Criminal Code, cannot be shorter than 30 or longer than 40 years, it is not possible to impose a single prison sentence of 25 years on that basis either," he explained.

Radulović also emphasized that without the existence of another explicit legal basis, a single sentence of 25 years, as he said, has no basis in the current rules on sentencing for concurrent criminal offenses.

Glavas's lawyer, Milica Mandić, announced that the defense will explain its position on the verdict in detail in its appeal.

Igor Glavaš was sentenced to a single sentence of 25 years in prison for his participation in the murder of Šćepan Roganović, who was killed on February 13, 2020, on the staircase near the Kanli Tower in Herceg Novi.

Special Prosecutor Siniša Milić requested during his closing arguments that Glavaš be sentenced to at least six years in prison for creating a criminal organization, and a long-term sentence of 30 years for aggravated murder by aiding and abetting, stating that the charges were proven by material and personal evidence, statements from witnesses, witness collaborators, as well as SKY communications confirmed by other evidence.

The trial against the citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina was also marked by a kind of procedural carousel, as the defendant, especially in the final phase of the proceedings, changed four selected defense attorneys, as well as at least five ex officio appointed defense attorneys.

The prosecutor proposed a long, single sentence of 35 years in prison.

Glavaš is accused of being a member of a criminal organization and of having the task of monitoring the movements of Šćepan Roganović and of informing the direct perpetrator of the crime, Milij Bajramović, about the victim's movements via an encrypted phone. According to the SDT indictment, he, on the orders of the organizer of the criminal group, took possession of a "Piaggio" motorcycle, stolen in Spain in 2018, which was used in the commission of the murder.

After the crime, the suspect, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina, fled to his home country.

He was arrested in Mostar at the end of July 2023 on the basis of an Interpol Podgorica warrant and then extradited to Montenegro. At the end of this year, three years had passed since the indictment for this crime was filed, which meant that he was at risk of being released, but the court panel stopped such an epilogue by pronouncing the first-instance verdict.

The criminal proceedings against Glavaš were previously separated from the proceedings against the other defendants, who were sentenced to a total of 73 years in prison on June 22 of this year before the Higher Court in Podgorica.