Samir KajosevicPodgoricaBIRNApril 11, 202317:53Two former Montenegrin prosecutors said they were pressurised by superiors to release from detention two police officers suspected of flouting a ban on two alleged Serbian crime gang members and letting them enter the country.

Montenegrin Prosecutors ‘Pressurised by Superiors in Serbian Gang Case’

Montenegrin state prosecutor Vukas Radonjic at a conference in Podgorica. Photo: PR Centar

Two former basic prosecutors in Podgorica, Nikola Boricic and Vukas Radonjic, claimed on Tuesday that their superiors put pressure on them to release from detention two police officers suspected of flouting a ban preventing alleged Serbian organised crime gang figures Veljko Belivuk and Marko Miljkovic from entering Montenegro in December 2020.

On October 14, 2021, the Basic Prosecution in Podgorica detained the two police officers, Aleksandar Boskovic and Sasa Djurovic, for allowing Belivuk and Miljkovic to enter the country.

But after questioning, the Special State Prosecutor said the police officers had not abused their authority and released them.

While being questioned on Tuesday by government and prosecution officials at the Parliamentary Committee for the Political System and Judiciary, Radonjic said that the head of the Higher Prosecutor, Lepa Medenica, and the then interim Supreme State Prosecutor Drazen Buric pressurised him to release the police officers.

“Medenica called me around midnight and asked me to let the policemen go, claiming I was acting illegally. When I refused, the interim Supreme State Prosecutor’s Office urged me to submit the case to the Special State Prosecution,” Radonjic said.

“Later I found that the Special State Prosecution dropped the charges,” he added.

The then head of the Basic Prosecution in Podgorica, Nikola Boricic, said he was also pressurised by Medenica and Buric to release the policemen.

“I refused their request to take the case from Radonjic. Because of that incident, at the end of 2021, I was dismissed by an act of the head of the Higher State Prosecutor’s Office,” Boricic said.

Montenegro’s outgoing Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic said that the operation to lift the entry bars on Belivuk and Miljkovic was organised by two former high-ranking police officers, Zoran Lazovic and Enis Bakovic.

Abazovic said that a special police unit led by Lazovic was providing security for Miljkovic and Belivuk during their visit to Montenegro.

“The ban was lifted so Belivuk and Miljkovic could attend a party organised by one of the Kavac gang leaders, Radoje Zvicer. Police officer Petar Lazovic was also at the party, while his police unit was securing the house,” Abazovic said.

Belivuk was arrested in Serbia on February 2021 a week after his return from Montenegro, where police allegedly prevented his assassination.

Known as ‘Velja Nevolja’ (‘Velja the Trouble’), Belivuk allegedly led a notorious gang known as the Janjicari, (Janissaries), later renamed Principi.

The group was formed in 2013 and had connections to private security contractors and to Montenegrin officials, including a senior police adviser and the secretary-general of the former government.

In August last year, the Special State Prosecution indicted Lazovic for alleged ties to the Kavac gang, alleging he provided them with official protection. In July 2022, Montenegro issued an international warrant for Zvicer and police officer Ljubo Milovic for setting up criminal organisations and drug trafficking.

Milovic and Zvicer fled the country after media last May published a Europol report sent to the Montenegrin government that included transcripts of Milovic and Lazovic’s alleged communications with the gang using the Sky ECC messaging app.

Belivuk and Miljkovic are currently on trial in Belgrade.

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