Former President of the Supreme Court of Montenegro Vesna Medenica was sentenced to one year and nine months in prison for inciting the illegal issuance of a temporary measure in favor of her godfather Rade Arsić, while the judge of the Commercial Court of Montenegro who issued such a decision, Milica Vlahović Milosavljević, was sentenced to six months in prison for the criminal offense of "abuse of official position".
The defendant Medenica committed the criminal offense of “abuse of official position by incitement”.
The first-instance verdict was handed down today by Judge Branislav Leković at the Higher Court in Podgorica. He said that the parties have the right to appeal within eight days of receiving the written verdict.
The judge said that it was proven beyond a doubt that they had committed a criminal offense. “The defendant Vesna Medenica repeatedly called the defendant Vlahović Milosavljević, whom she knew was in case P.br 564, and demanded that the corporation “Ten” from Moscow be prevented from collecting 400.000 euros from the company “Vin”, owned by Rade Arsić, her godfather. The defendant Vlahović Milosavljević issued a temporary measure, which prevented the mortgage creditor “Ten” from collecting its claim by selling the real estate.
"Judge Vlahović Milosavljević said in the prosecutor's investigation that she gave in under pressure because Vesna Medenica is very uncomfortable when someone objects to her. The court has undoubtedly established that Medenica created the decision in Vlahović Milosavljević to commit a criminal offense, which resulted in a temporary measure, which is illegal. There was intent on the part of the accused. When determining the sentence, the court took into account the fact that they had no previous convictions as a mitigating circumstance, while the fact that they were public officials was an aggravating circumstance," said judge Leković in the explanation of the verdict.
The judge stated that the transcripts of telephone communications, messages exchanged between the accused judges and Arsić, according to the expert's findings, are authentic, obtained directly from the device's memory, without access to cloud servers. "The analysis showed that from November 5, 2018 to January 4, 2019, there was intensive, coordinated communication between Medenica, Vlahović Milosavljević and Arsić. The content of the messages shows that Medenica dictated to Vlahović Milosavljević the content of the court decision, explained how to formulate the proposal for a temporary measure, insisted on urgency, announced the sending of documentation, all with the aim of making a decision in favor of Rade Arsić," said Judge Leković.
He singled out a message from December 26, 2018, which Vlahović Milosavljević sent to Arsić, and which she had previously received, in almost identical form, from Vesna Medenica. The message states what a proposal for a temporary measure should contain, how to formulate the key parts of the decision, which documents should be attached, and why it is necessary to submit a proposal "as soon as possible" in order to prevent the collection of claims by the company "Korporacija Ten" from the company Rade Arsić.
A day later, on December 27, Judge Vlahović Milosavljević issued a decision that, as Judge Leković pointed out, fully complied with the instructions in the message.
"The court found that Judge Vlahović Milosavljević adopted the proposal of Rade Arsić and ordered a temporary security measure on his real estate contrary to the Law on Enforcement and Security. The consequences of this decision were negative for the Ten Corporation, which was blocked from collecting 400.000 euros in claims from Arsić, and Arsić was enabled to avoid enforcement. Legal consequences were created that influenced the further course of the dispute," said Judge Leković.
Special Prosecutor Vukas Radonjić said in a statement to the media that the SDT was satisfied with the guilty verdict.
"As you know, the SDT asked the court in its closing arguments to declare them guilty and requested a three-year prison sentence for the defendant Vesna Medenica, and a one-year prison sentence for Vlahović Milosavljević. We are satisfied with the explicit conviction for both defendants. This shows that we were justified in filing the indictment, that all the evidence we collected was legally valid. This procedure was conducted exclusively professionally without political or any other background or motive. The sentences imposed do not correspond to what the SDT requested. So I can already announce that we will appeal the first-instance verdict in the part regarding the sentence decision," said Radonjić.
When asked by a journalist to comment on the reasoning behind the verdict of Judge Branislav Leković, who said that the decision on interim measures issued by Judge Vlahović Milosavljević was unlawful, even though this decision was confirmed by the panel of the Commercial Court of Montenegro in the appeal proceedings, Special Prosecutor Vukas Radonjić responded.
“The entire procedure that led to the decision, all the actions taken by the defendants, and the summons to the defendant Medenica, the defendant judge Vlahović Milosavljević, the indication that the sale that would harm the company of her godfather Rade Arsić should be prevented, all the messages they exchanged, indicate that this decision is not lawful. It was made through an entire illegal procedure that has the characteristics of abuse of office. And most importantly, the fact that it was confirmed is not a guarantee that it is lawful for the SDT. We saw from the defendants’ correspondence that Vlahović Milosavljević went to the judges who decided in the second instance, that the defendant Vesna Medenica called the president of the Commercial Court (Blaž Jovanić), who was also a member of the panel that decided in the second instance. We did not have enough evidence, seen from subjective characteristics, that the judges who decided in the second instance also committed a criminal offense. For now, they have not been included in the indictment. This condemning decision "The decision of the High Court is the only possible and correct one," said Special Prosecutor Radonjić.
Medenica did not attend the verdict, but Vlahović Milosavljević did.
In her closing statement, Vlahović Milosavljević criticized the prosecution's position, stating that the accusation was based on an "incomprehensible and dangerous interpretation of the law," which - as she said - would lead to every final decision being treated as a potential criminal act.
In her closing statement, Medenica said, among other things, that politics has entered the courtroom, that they are trying to label her as the greatest evil and sacrifice her in order to get European "straps"...
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