Judge Zoran Radović scheduled the continuation of the trial in the "Coup d'etat" case from February 5 to 10, 2024.
In the High Court in Podgorica, the written evidence proposed by the indictment was previously read.
Lawyer Dušan Radosavljević, the defense attorney for the accused Milan Knežević, told "Viješti" that the defense proposed, through a request, that Knežević's wife Tamara Magdelinić be heard via video link.
He added that she is in Belgrade.
"She is the wife of Knežević, and therefore she is now a privileged witness, so the legal obligation must be respected. That's why we proposed that it be heard via video link," said Radosavljević.
Accepting the appeals of the defense attorney, the Appellate Court of Montenegro annulled the first-instance verdict in this case.
With the annulled verdict, the leaders of the former Democratic Front (DF), Andrija Mandić and Milan Knežević, were sentenced to five years in prison each, for, as the indictment states, membership in a criminal organization since February 2016.
The organizers of that group - Russians Eduard Šišmakov and Vladimir Popov - were sentenced to a total of 27 years in prison.
The former commander of the Serbian Gendarmerie Bratislav Dikić was sentenced to a single sentence of eight years, and Predrag Bogićević and Nemanja Ristić to seven years in prison.
By the same decision, Srboljub Đorđević and Milan Dušić were each sentenced to one and a half years in prison, Branka Milić to three years in prison, Dragan Maksić to one year and nine months in prison, while Kristina Hristić was given a suspended sentence.
DF driver Mihailo Čađenović was sentenced to one year and six months in prison. The indictment states that the two Russians organized a criminal group and recruited other members for the purpose of obtaining illegal profits and power, violently overthrowing the government and declaring the DF electoral victory and preventing Montenegro from joining the NATO alliance.
The criminal organization, it is stated, planned to, on the day of the parliamentary elections on October 16, 2016, with the help of the Democratic Front, clash with the Montenegrin police and forcefully occupy the Parliament of Montenegro, as well as to kidnap and kill the then prime minister and the current president of Montenegro. Milo Đukanović.
Bonus video:
