At the Higher Court in Podgorica today, the prosecutor, defense, and defendants gave their closing arguments in the trial of those accused of the murder of Radomir Đuričković in Cetinje.
The president of the special panel, Judge Veljko Radovanović, will announce the first-instance verdict on December 25th.
The indictment alleges that Mario M. Milošević killed Radomir Đuričković on October 10, 2016. The same indictment charges Igor Mašanović with being behind the wheel of the Renault Megane from which shots were fired at Đuričković and Milorad Radulović. Defendants Milošević, Igor B. Mašanović and Vukan V.
Vujačić, according to the indictment, after the murder, fled in a “Renault Megane” vehicle, from which shots were fired at Đuričković, and headed towards the rural road Gornji Ceklin – Ljubotinj, where they set fire to the passenger vehicle. Milošević is accused of being the perpetrator of Đuričković’s murder. In addition to him, Igor Mašanović and Vukan Vujačić are also accused of jointly and intentionally killing Đuričković on 10 October 2016, between 11 and 11:10 p.m., and endangering the life of the injured party witness Milorad Radulović.
Contrary to the prosecutor's position, the defendants' defense attorneys, Miloš Vuksanović and Marko Radović, who read the closing argument of attorney Bojana Franović Kovačević, proposed acquittals for Milošević and Mašanović.
In her closing statement, State Prosecutor Irena Burić at the Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica proposed long prison sentences and the highest possible punishment. The attorney for the injured family, attorney Damir Lekić, agreed with the prosecutor's proposal.
Prosecutor Irena Burić believes that it has been proven that the accused committed criminal acts. She referred to the testimony of the injured party's witness Milorad Radulović. She stated that this witness described how the murder occurred.
In his first statement, Radulović stated that he was afraid of Mario Milošević and that, when he found out that he had not been ordered to be detained, he gave a second statement in which he stated that Milošević was the perpetrator of this criminal offense.
The prosecutor proposed that the court impose a long prison sentence on Mario Milošević and Vukan Vujačić, and the highest possible sentence on Igor Mašanović, taking into account his age when the crime was committed.
Lawyer Miloš Vuksanović proposed an acquittal for Mario Milošević.
"The key moment for this case was the hearing of the injured party witness Milorad Radulović, who gave spectacular statements. This is not a man who had a false memory, but a man who told lies. In one statement, he stated that he did not know Mario Milošević at all. After which his conscience came to him and he said that in his first statement he was afraid of Milošević. He is lying. His statement is like an action movie, he claims at one point that he saw Milošević shooting over the roof of the car, and at another that he did not see him get out of the car. Witness Radulović says that he saw an automatic rifle, and then says that he did not see it but that he concluded that based on the gunshot. And he is lying," emphasized lawyer Vuksanović.
Defendant Mario Milošević said he agreed with his lawyer's words. "I have been attending someone else's trial all these years. I was not in the country when it happened and I had no knowledge about it," defendant Milošević told the court.
Attorney Marko Radović read the closing arguments of attorney Bojana Franović Kovačević, defense attorney for the defendants Mašanović and Vujačić.
"The indictment was returned for additional investigation. The expert witness stated that the chances that Vukan Vujačić is in the recording are equal to those that he is not in the recording. The expert witness stated that there are no basic elements for a precise anthropological examination. After the additional investigation, the only thing that changed was the testimony of the injured party's witness Milorad Radulović, which was not confirmed by evidence. It is contradictory," said lawyer Franović Kovačević in her closing argument. She referred to newspaper articles in which the correspondence between the then President of the Supreme Court, Vesna Medenica, and the then President of the High Court in Podgorica, Boris Savić, was published.
The messages stated that Vesna Medenica sent to Svić: "Why didn't Bašović arrange for this Milošević to be detained."
"Why don't you follow that? This is a disgrace."
In his closing argument, attorney Marko Radović said, among other things, that the situation with the false testimony of a key witness is the same as in the trial for the murder of basketball player Ljubo Jovanović, which was also committed in Cetinje.
"The prosecution does not believe witness Radulović either. The indictment only lists the projectiles that hit Đuričković, but what about the others that were fired? Radulović claims that they were shot at. The witness's statement is not confirmed by any evidence," said lawyer Radović.
"The only possible verdict is acquittal," suggested lawyer Marko Radović.
The indictment names the defendant Milošević as the perpetrator of the murder of Radomir Đuričković. As it is further alleged, on 10.10.2016. between 23:00 and 23:10. hours, all three defendants together intentionally deprived Đuričković of his life and endangered the life of the injured party witness Milorad Radulović. The indictment states that the defendants purchased the "Renault Megan" vehicle used in the murder for the amount of 2.100 euros, specifically that the defendant Vujačić took possession of the vehicle on 9 October 2016 in Podgorica.
It is further stated that on October 10, in Cetinje, they followed the movements of the now-deceased injured Đuričković, waited for him to get into his vehicle, and in Ulica IV proleterške near the "Konoba" bar, headed towards Đuričković's vehicle from the opposite direction, moving in the opposite lane, which is why Đuričković had to stop his vehicle.
At that moment, defendant Milošević fired two projectiles in the direction of Đuričković, who died a day later from his wounds.
The defendants, the indictment concludes, fled down a country road and set fire to the vehicle in which they left the automatic rifle from which the shots were fired.
Witness: Three versions of the murder of Radomir Đuričković
The injured party witness Milorad Đ. Radulović from Cetinje, in the court proceedings against Mario Milošević, who is on trial for the murder of Radomir Đuričković in Cetinje in October 2016, gave three statements regarding this murder. Two at the Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica in November 2016, and in March 2020, as well as in 2021, at the main hearing at the Higher Court in Podgorica.
Witness Radulović said that Đuričković was killed on October 10, 2016.
He stated that he came to the Cetinje tavern in the early evening, where his acquaintances and friends were sitting and playing rummy cards. He added that Đuričković arrived around 9 p.m. or maybe 8 p.m. He said that they left the bar around 10:35 p.m., or maybe 10 minutes later. He added that it was raining lightly, while the street lighting was weak, or rather, only working occasionally.
"I got into Radomir Đuričković's white jeep and sat in the passenger seat. It started to rain a little. The street lights were working a little. He sat in the driver's seat and looked at his phone. He started in the opposite lane to his direction of travel, and immediately a car came from the direction of Konoba and Distribucija. It flashed several times towards us. Radomir commented: 'What kind of mutts are these'. I said I had no idea," said Radulović.
He added that the car was indigo blue, French-made, with tinted windows, no wheel caps, and five-spoke alloy wheels.
"It started to reverse. It stopped two meters from us. The front left part of Đuričković's jeep was next to the front of that car. I see a person, with a balaclava on his head and large slits for his eyes, from the passenger seat, crawl through the window and shoot at Đuričković over the hood. He said 'uh', and threw himself at me. I heard two shots, and then there were several more series of several shots," witness Radulović said at the trial.
He added that Đuričković tried to get out, but his hand was seized by a cramp. Everything happened quickly, and the car from which the shots were fired ended up parallel to the jeep.
"The driver's window rolled down and I recognized Mašanović, because he lifted his mask, and I also recognized Mario Milošević in the passenger seat, who leaned over Mašanović and fired two more shots in our direction. I would say it was a higher caliber. Mario also lifted his mask from his face. I realized that they wanted to see if we were finished," the witness said.
This witness was questioned by the prosecution in November 2016 and did not mention that Mario Milošević was the shooter.
"I don't know what the driver looked like because the car was blacked out. I don't know Mario Milosevic."
In his statement of March 12, 2020, this witness said that he noticed when Mario got out of the car and shot in the direction of Đuričković, and then returned and sat in the passenger seat, and that he had a cap on his head, lowered to his eyebrows.
He added that he knew him by sight, but that they had not spoken while playing cards in a bar.
Bonus video:
