The Special State Prosecutor's Office suspects the former assistant director of the Police Administration Zoran Lazović that he approved the opening of the Montenegrin border for the entry of mercenaries of the Kavački clan Veljko Belivuk i Marko Miljkovic and for rescue Duško Roganovića of serious charges, and the former chief special prosecutor Milivoj Katnić that he helped him in that.
That is why members of the Special Police Department (SPO) handcuffed them yesterday at dawn.
Lazović was arrested in Bijelo Polje, and Katnić in Klikovače, Danilovgrad.
Both were questioned last night in the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) by a special prosecutor Miloš Šoškić.
The prosecution accuses Lazović of having formed a criminal organization whose members were Katnić, the previously arrested special prosecutor Sasa Cadjenovic and Lazovic's son Petar who was deprived of his liberty in July 2022.
One of the defenders of the former secret agent, a lawyer Zoran Piperović, said after the hearing that Lazović denied guilt, but did not answer the special prosecutor's questions.
He added that Lazović is charged with creating a criminal organization and two criminal offenses of abuse of office, and that Katnić is charged with becoming a member of that alleged criminal group.
Investigation
The investigation against Katnić and Lazović was opened due to the suspicion that they committed the criminal offense of creating a criminal organization and abuse of official position in the case of lifting the ban on Serbian citizens entering Montenegro at the end of December 2020.
During that investigation, Montenegrin investigators were provided with transcripts from the once protected Sky application, in which Petar Lazović bragged about the heads of the Kavac clan. Happy Switzerland i Ljub Milović that he managed to "extract" Duško Roganović from the case.
"We removed Duško Roganović from the application, you know, I didn't tell you that. What you said a long time ago that he can be helped. And the team around him will be arrested, it can happen every day, it's been going to the prosecutor for a couple of months," Lazović wrote to the head of the bar on November 27, 2021.
A day later, Zvicer informed about this in a message Slobodan Kašćelan: "I finished Dula so that he wouldn't be arrested", he wrote to him and received a reply - "Excellent, why would you go to prison with him like that, God forbid."
Due to the cover-up of Roganović and several members of the Kavačka clan, the SDT had previously charged the former special prosecutor Čađenović.
He is accused of "obtaining a benefit" for Roganović on December 3, 2020. On that day, Petar Lazović informed Zvicera in a message that Roganović "will not be arrested because it was agreed."
Arrest and searches
Officers of the Special Police Department, which he manages Predrag Šuković, yesterday as part of one of the largest cases in the Special State Prosecutor's Office, they searched the facilities of Lazović and Katnić at several locations in Montenegro.
They are scheduled to continue searching the house of a longtime secret policeman in Zabjelo, Podgorica, today.
After the police officers started searching the property at dawn yesterday in order to possibly find traces of the commission of criminal acts, from the SDT, which he manages Vladimir Novović, they announced what kind of action it was.
"On the basis of mutual cooperation and several months of coordinated action of the Special State Prosecutor's Office, the Special Police Department and the European Union Agency for the Cooperation of Law Enforcement Authorities - Europol, by order of the Special State Prosecutor's Office, the Special Police Department, with the assistance of the Special Purpose Police Department, deprived MK of his freedom , the former chief special prosecutor and ZL, the former assistant director of the Police Administration, due to the grounds of suspicion that they committed the criminal acts of creating a criminal organization and abuse of official position", announced the state prosecutor and SDT spokesperson Vukas Radonjic.
Then he explained that he was being searched in Podgorica, Cetinje, Budva and Bijelo Polje.
A little later, the Police Administration announced that Katnić and Lazović had been arrested in the "Alfa" case.
In the UP announcement, it is written that this case is the result of several months of work, international cooperation and coordination of the SDT with several of their organizational units, especially the SPO.
"Today's realization of the mentioned case is only a continuation of the activities started earlier in the fight against organized crime and corruption and represents the continuity of activities in the comprehensive reform process", the police said yesterday.
Hearings
At around 13 pm, Katnić was brought to the premises of the SPO, from where he was taken, handcuffed, to the prosecutor Šoškić for questioning at around 22 pm. Lazović, whose property in Bijelo Polje was searched for hours, was detained in a "can", also with his hands tied, around 18.40:19. He was taken to the prosecutor's office a few minutes after 72 p.m., and less than three hours later, he was detained for up to XNUMX hours.
Lawyer Piperović said that Lazović did not answer the special prosecutor's questions, but that he completely denied guilt.
He also claims that "a lot of things are strange" in that case.
"I expected, after so much noise, that it would be something large, very provable, exact, many faces, many everything... Now it has been made into one story in a way that, in my opinion, elementary criminal-legal review", Piperović said.
Lazović's second defense attorney, a lawyer Stefan Jovanovic, he assessed that "politics is now trying to directly influence and collect political points before perhaps some upcoming political crisis" and he praised the reaction of the VDT yesterday Milorad Marković.
Katnić's hearing was not completed by the end of this issue of "Vijesti".
MANS to Milović and Koprivica: Do we now have enough reasons for a vetting?
Yesterday, the Network for the Affirmation of the Non-Governmental Sector (MANS) asked the Deputy Prime Minister Momo Koprivica and the Minister of Justice Andrej Milović on the "Iks" network whether, after the new arrests, there is sufficient reason for the introduction of vetting, that is, the procedure for checking the property of judges and prosecutors, their possible ties to crime , and their professional competences.
"Do we now have enough reasons for vetting: the former GST (chief special prosecutor), the former president of the Supreme Court, two former police directors and two assistant directors, one of whom was a high-ranking ANB official, were accused of cooperation with organized crime? ", they asked.
Marković: Let's all stick to our responsibilities
Supreme State Prosecutor Milorad Marković told the executive and legislative authorities yesterday that the establishment of the rule of law is the task of all institutions and social actors in Montenegro and that we should all work together to improve it, but each within the framework of their competences defined by the Constitution and the law.
"The comments of political subjects and holders of public office, on the occasion of the implementation of the prosecutorial-police action in which 2 persons (M. K and ZL) were deprived of their liberty, represent a circumstance that could lead to the public's impression of the independence of the State Prosecutor's Office being threatened, to which the State Prosecutor's Organization resolutely opposes," said Marković.
They let Belivuk and Miljkovic join Zvicer
The ban on Belivuk and Miljković from entering Montenegro was lifted on December 28, 2020, right before the end of the mandate of the then management of the Police Directorate, in which Lazović and assistant Enis Baković held the most important positions.
Lazović and Veljović's assistants were dismissed on March 1, 2021, and in the fall of that year, Lazović was questioned in the investigation into the lifting of the entry ban on Belivuk and Miljković.
In the summer of 2022, by order of the SDT in cooperation with EUROPOL, his son Petar was arrested, against whom several indictments have so far been brought and several investigations have been opened due to his cooperation with the kavak clan.
Katnić, who was arrested yesterday, claimed that Petar Lazović was on a "secret assignment" and that he was collecting information against the clan...
Towards the end of 2022, Katnić's closest associate, special prosecutor Saša Čađenović, was also arrested on suspicion of abusing his official position in the case of Petar Lazović and his connections with the Zvicer clan.
"As soon as we found out that they came to Montenegro, we did everything, brought them and their hosts to OB Kotor, held informative interviews, asked them to tell us the reasons for their arrival. If they are not enemies of Montenegro, there is no need to ask anyone Belivuk and Miljković will be under 24-hour surveillance by the Anti-Crime Department, and of course we will prevent them from carrying out any criminal activity," said Lazović on January 28, 2021.
Reactions to arrest
Prime Minister and leader of PES, Milojko Spajić, announced yesterday after the arrest of Katnić and Lazović that he welcomes "SDT's continuous fight against all forms of crime and corruption".
"These actions testify to the degree of infiltration of organized crime into the institutions of the system, which were created during the time of the former authorities. That is why it is very important that the current government, through the creation of legal and practical conditions, makes a clear discontinuity from the former practice...", he wrote online "X".
The Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Democrats, Aleksa Bečić, said that the arrest of the former chief special prosecutor and former high-ranking police official proves that "no one will ever be stronger than the state" and that "there are no protected and untouchables".
"I am proud... of your commitment, courage and determination to cleanse this beautiful country of organized crime and corruption," he announced, announcing that he would travel with Police Minister Danilo Šaranović (Democrats) today to visit the headquarters of EUROPOL (EU Agency for law enforcement cooperation) in The Hague.
Šaranović announced that the arrest of Katnić and Lazović was "proof of the security sector's uncompromising commitment to building a state of free institutions and the rule of law."
"This is just one in a series of confirmations that until not so long ago the security sector was trapped...", he said.
Deputy Prime Minister Momo Koprivica (Democrat), stated that the prosecution of Katnić and Lazović represents "a big step in freeing institutions from criminal power centers."
He said that the extent to which state institutions were criminalized until the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) was overthrown almost four years ago is shown by the actions in which, apart from Katnić and Lazović, the former president of the Supreme Court, Vesna Medenica, the former president of the Privredna of the court Blažo Jovanić, and two former police directors, Veselin Veljović and Slavko Stojanović.
Former Prime Minister Dritan Abazović said that yesterday's SDT action represented a "great day for justice".
"After so many years of battle, persecution, propaganda, untruths and subterfuge by Lazović, Katnić and numerous of their helpers - as I mentioned, the truth has found its way," the leader of the Citizens' Movement (GP) URA wrote on the "X" network .
His party colleague and former Minister of Police, Filip Adžić, assessed that after the arrest of Katnić and Lazović, "everyone is clear why there was a media chase against the head of the Special Police Department (SPO) Predrag Šuković and why the mafia jokers within the Government tried to discredit and remove him from the function".
Spajić's PES announced that it welcomes the SDT's action, adding that it is a message that "the rule of law is no longer a dead letter on paper, but a reality that we have been waiting for a long time."
"That is why it is very important that the conditions for the implementation of the conclusion of the current government, which gave the building of the old government building to SDT, be used," they pointed out.
The strongest opposition party, DPS, said that SDT's action was a "continuation of revanchism" that has been going on since August 30, 2020, when that party lost three decades of power.
"We are witnesses that everything that happened this morning was announced for months, even years, by the Belgrade media and the parties of the current government, while the indictments were written on the front pages of the media, which are exclusively and illegally in possession of suspicious SKY (Skaj) materials and documents from the Agency for national security," they announced.
DPS said that they call for respect for the presumption of innocence.
"Because the persons who were deprived of their liberty this morning are persons who for decades did the most responsible prosecutorial and police work in the interest of the citizens of Montenegro...", they announced.
Democrats said the state is showing a clear intention to end "the criminal structures that have captured our future."
"The time at liberty for the heroes of SKAJ (Sky application) is numbered, the security sector continues with decisive actions...", they added.
Andrija Mandić from the New Serbian Democracy (NSD) also welcomed the action, stating that they and the former Democratic Front were the victims and the biggest fighters "against the political persecution carried out by the duo Katnić-Lazović".
"And we are convinced that during the investigation and the further process it will be confirmed that the leaders of the former regime were the ones who ordered the persecution...", announced NSD spokesman Mirko Miličić.
The Democratic People's Party (DNP) said that the arrest of Katnić and Lazović is another proof of "Montenegro's correct path towards the rule of law".
"... It was high time that the state of Montenegro not only declaratively, but also concretely proved to Europe that changes at the state level have really been initiated...", they stressed.
The Socialist People's Party (SNP) said that the time has passed when organized crime and corruption went unpunished.
"We expect that this process will also lead to the prosecution and punishment of the perpetrators of the crime against (federal defense minister) Pavlo Bulatović and (editor of the newspaper "Dan") Duško Jovanović...", they announced.
The leader of Prava Montenegro, Marko Milačić, announced that the arrest of Katnić and Lazović represents "another great victory over the mafia in Montenegro".
"It is clear that Lazović and Katnić could not act without political protection, and we encourage (chief special prosecutor Vladimir) Novović to continue to the very top of this criminal organization," he added.
In September 2021, while Katnić was at the head of the SDT, Milačić filed a criminal complaint with the SDT against Lazović in March 2023, during Novović's term, due to the "Belivuk" case.
Bonus video:
