Two police officers, Nikola Dragićević and Nikola Vilić, were arrested on suspicion of unauthorized handling of a photograph from the site where Russian citizen Mikhail Nikolaevich Šabunjin (30) committed suicide in Herceg Novi, announced Interior Minister Danilo Šaranović.
On September 1, Šabunjin killed three people at the "Češka zbrojevka" shooting range in Danilovgrad - twenty-year-old Nemanja Kapor from Podgorica, his four-year-old fellow citizen Petar Globarević, and Momir Radonjić (67) from Danilovgrad. On the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, the police located him in the forest above the Herceg Novi settlement of Topla. At the moment of his arrest, he opened fire on the police, and then shot himself in the head.
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As stated in Šaranović's press release, Dragićević, a police officer of the Herceg Novi Security Department, and Vilić, a police officer of the Kotor Security Department, were deprived of their liberty by order of the state prosecutor at the Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Herceg Novi.
They are suspected of committing the criminal offense of abuse of official position in conjunction with the more serious criminal offense of unauthorized collection and use of personal data.
According to suspicions raised by police internal control officers, Dragićević took a photograph from the scene showing Šabunjin's lifeless body, after which he forwarded the photograph to Vilić.
The case was initiated after fugitive Miloš Medenica posted details from the crime investigation, as well as photos of Šabunjin's body, on his Telegram channel.
The case was initiated after information was received that details and photographs from the scene of the incident in the Topla settlement, where police were conducting an investigation following the suicide of a Russian citizen, were published on a communication channel.
Officers of the Police Internal Control Department, together with colleagues from the Herceg Novi and Nikšić security departments, and in cooperation with the state prosecutor, have taken a series of measures and actions to determine all the facts and circumstances of the event, announced Šaranović.
During the investigation, information was collected from two police officers, while, based on the obtained orders and in accordance with the law, searches were conducted at several locations in the territories of Herceg Novi, Kotor and Nikšić.
After collecting information and material evidence, Dragićević and Vilić were arrested and brought before the acting state prosecutor, the statement said.
The prosecutor ordered their detention, after which they were brought before the investigating judge of the competent court. They were questioned, and the investigating judge's decision is awaited.
The Ministry of Interior announced that the Internal Control Department continues to take measures and actions in coordination with the competent state prosecutor's office, in order to fully clarify the circumstances of the case and possibly determine the responsibility of other persons.
Šaranović said that the security system will continue to check all information indicating contacts between police officers and other persons with members of criminal structures, as well as possible abuses of official position and official information.
"The Police Directorate will resolutely and without exception take all legally prescribed measures and actions to detect and prosecute individuals whose actions violate the integrity of the police service, endanger the security system or act in the interests of organized criminal structures, with the aim of their timely detection and decisive opposition to all forms of criminal activity," the statement reads.
It is added that the public, in accordance with the interest of the investigation and legal restrictions, will be informed in a timely manner about the further course and results of activities in this case.
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