Green light for the indictment in the “Tunnel” case
The Basic Court in Podgorica confirmed the indictment of the Basic State Prosecutor’s Office in Podgorica against seven defendants in the case the public came to know as “The tunnel”. The extrajudicial panel assessed that the collected evidence provides sufficient grounds for suspecting that the defendants have committed several criminal offences that merit a prison sentence of at least five years.
The defendants are accused of digging, in early July 2023, a 30 metres long tunnel from the basement of a residential building to the High Court in Podgorica, i.e. to the court depot that housed evidentiary material from the cases that are pending or have been concluded in that court.
Neither the motive nor the persons who ordered the break-in are known, but the investigation revealed that weapons, mobile phones and a small amount of drugs were stolen from the depot.
The previous three hearings for the control of the indictment were postponed, and we analysed the reasons for this in Buletin no. 1.
Vesna and Miloš Medenica will be in court on 28 February
The trial of former President of the Supreme Court Vesna Medenica, her son Miloš and the other defendants is scheduled for 28 February in the High Court in Podgorica. After the change of the president of the court panel, judge Nada Rabrenović, the trial is set to start from the beginning. The panel will now be headed by judge Vesna Kovačević. She has scheduled a total of 40 hearings in advance, and is planning to hold them all in just over four months.
The defendants are suspected of creating a criminal organisation, smuggling, giving and receiving bribes, unlawful influence and inciting unlawful influence, abuse of office, drug smuggling, illegal possession of weapons, inflicting serious bodily harm and tampering with evidence.
The initial trial against Medenica and the other suspects lasted a year and 10 months, with more than 20 postponements during that period. We discussed the details of the process and the reasons for the postponement of the hearings in Bulletin no. 3 and Bulletin no. 1.
A copy of the testimony of a witness was accepted as evidence in the case of the murder of Slavoljub Šćekić
The Appellate Court will not be removing a copy of the compact disc containing the testimony of the once protected witness Zoran Vlaović, known as Bohum, from the case file concerning the murder of police inspector Slavoljub Šćekić. The original CD has disappeared, as was noted back in April 2012, so the defendants’ attorneys requested that the entire copy be removed from the case file, claiming that parts of the record were allegedly missing.
The trial for the murder of Šćekić started anew before the panel of the Appellate Court after the Constitutional Court overturned the verdict that sentenced Ljubo Bigović, Saša Boreta, Milan Šćekić and Ljubo Vujadinović to 30 years in prison, and the now the late Alan Kožar to six years and ten months for planting three explosions at the construction site of the “Splendid” hotel in Bečići.
According to the abrogated verdict, incited by Boreta and Bigović, Šćekić and Vujadinović killed a police inspector on 30 August 2005. According to the abrogated verdict, they did this because Slavoljub Šćekić was on their trail investigating an extortion attempt and a series of bomb attacks on the then construction site of the “Splendid” hotel.
The indictment against Katnić and Lazović is undergoing supplementation
The criminal panel of the High Court in Podgorica, presided over by judge Zoran Radović, sent back for correction the indictment that was filed against former Chief Special Prosecutor Milivoj Katnić and former Assistant Director of the Police Administration, Zoran Lazović.
They were arrested on 14 April 2024 and have been in custody ever since. They are charged with the criminal offences of creating a criminal organisation, abuse of office, and illegal possession and carrying of weapons and explosive materials. In addition to the above, Lazović is also charged with money laundering.
New prosecutors at the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office and Basic State Prosecutor’s Offices
The Prosecutorial Council elected Danka Živković and Armin Selmanović as state prosecutors in the Supreme State Prosecutor’s Office. At the session, it was decided to elect Branko Knežević and Andrijana Drašković as prosecutors in the Basic State Prosecutor’s Office in Bijelo Polje, and Milica Tomović and Slađana Vukotić-Kankaraš in the Basic State Prosecutor’s Office in Podgorica. State prosecutors in basic state prosecutor’s offices are elected for a period of four years.
Competition for the admission of interns in 15 courts
The Supreme Court of Montenegro announced a competition for the admission of 31 interns in 15 courts for a fixed period of time (up to three years). The competition was open until 2 February.
The High Court in Podgorica needs six interns, the Commercial Court of Montenegro, the Administrative Court of Montenegro, the Basic Court in Kotor and the Misdemeanour Court in Podgorica need three each, the basic courts in Nikšić and Cetinje, as well as the High Misdemeanour Court of Montenegro need two each, while the Basic Courts in Danilovgrad, Kolašin, Ulcinj, Herceg Novi and Berane, as well as the misdemeanour courts in Bijelo Polje and Budva, need one each.
The Judicial Council elected new judges and announced competitions
At the second session of the Judicial Council, held on 29 January, one candidate and one judge were elected to the Administrative Court of Montenegro, while two judges were elected to misdemeanour courts. The Council also made a decision to announce a public competition for the election of the President of the Basic Court in Pljevlja, and a competition for the selection of 14 candidates for judges of the basic courts of the northern region.
The Supreme Court established the Bureau and Fair Trial Department
In January, the Supreme Court of Montenegro established a court Bureau, which consists of the presidents of court departments and is managed by the President of the Supreme Court, Valentina Pavličić. The objective and task of this Bureau is to help the head of the court to discharge her office and to “influence the improvement of efficiency and effectiveness”. It was also decided to establish the Fair Trial Department, so the Supreme Court will now have five separate departments.
The Court announced that in the future, to increase transparency, they will be publishing all important information about the work at the sessions on their website.
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