Trial of RTCG Council members postponed, prosecutor drops lawsuit against Miranović

The trial of members of the Radio and Television Council of Montenegro (RTCG) has been postponed to September 19th because prosecutors dropped charges against former member of the body, Predrag Miranović.

Prosecutor Igor Šćekić said in the courtroom of the Basic Court that he was dropping the charges against Miranović.

According to him, Miranović, while appearing on Television "Vijesti", stated that he had submitted a blank ballot when the vote was held for Boris Raonić as the general director of RTCG.

"In this specific case, there is no evidence that Miranović committed the criminal offense he is charged with," the prosecutor said.

As "Vijesti" has written on several occasions, they are charged with abuse of official position in complicity.

Lawyer Vladan Bojić told reporters after the hearing that prosecutor Šćekić "surprised, roughly, maybe even himself."

"He gave up. He changed the factual description and gave up on the original indictment. He gave a completely different factual description. And with that, he put us in a situation where the hearing had to be postponed, not ended today. And now, in my opinion, he is saving what he can, but this cannot save him either. He postponed it until September, the same thing that was supposed to happen today will happen. I advised him as a colleague that it was good for him to give up on everyone today and end this scalamari he has done. And to apologize to everyone," he said.

Bojić emphasized that Šćekić could have requested a postponement at the last hearing.

"And he could have done it at the very beginning, because no one disputed that Professor Miranović submitted a blank ballot. Why is he doing it today, when the final words have been given, when we already sent them the other day and when we should have finished this, to drag it out, that's what he should ask himself. You know how, when a man needs to admit his mistake, the prosecution is not capable, it doesn't have the capacity to admit that he made a big mess here and to apologize to everyone for this, because they misled the legal public, and then through them the lay public...".

The indictment was filed against the President of the Council, Veselin Drljević, and Council members Filip Lazović, Amina Murić, Naod Zorić, and Predrag Miranović.

Marijana Camović Velicković, Milica Špajak and Bojan Baća were examined as witnesses in early April.