PODGORICA, 19.12.2025. – Former photojournalist of the daily Vijesti, Savo Prelević, testified that in the period preceding the attack on former Vijesti journalist Olivera Lakić, a highly negative atmosphere had been created around her, leaving her distressed and fearful.
“She told me: ‘Do you see what they are doing to me? They are putting a target on my back. Someone is going to kill me.’ That very same day, she complained to editor-in-chief Željko Ivanović that she could no longer endure it. That same night, she was attacked,” Prelević said while testifying as a witness in the proceedings before the High Court concerning the attack on Lakić in May 2018 and the murder of Podgorica resident Miodrag Kruščić.
According to Pobjeda, Prelević recalled that during that period Lakić was continuously spoken about in a negative manner by former Assistant Director of the Police Administration Enis Baković, businessman Zoran “Ćoćo” Bećirović, and a former NGO activist who is now the head of the public broadcaster, Boris Raonić.
“Zoran Bećirović published negative articles about Olja Lakić on his portal Aktuelno, and in addition, he publicly targeted her during court hearings related to the murder of his brother. I remember that while I was having coffee with Olja at the Hilton hotel, the late Stevan Stamatović shouted at her: ‘Olja, you just can’t help mentioning me.’ She replied that he should not address her and that if he had something to say, he should come to the newsroom and submit a rebuttal,” Prelević testified.
He emphasized that the first threats against Lakić began in 2011, after she wrote about a cigarette factory in Mojkovac.
“That was when the target was first placed on her,” Prelević added.
Also testifying before the court was Vijesti editor Mihailo Jovović, who said that after the shooting, Lakić told him she had not seen the attacker’s face and believed the person was dressed in black.
“Based on my many years of editorial experience, when an unknown perpetrator carries out such an attack, it usually means the journalist does not personally know the attacker, but I am convinced that such attacks are carried out on someone’s orders. It is always necessary to examine the motives behind the attack. The police and prosecution have very rarely dealt with identifying who ordered the attack,” Jovović said.
For that reason, he stated, he submitted to the prosecution articles written by Olivera Lakić, including those about cigarette smuggling and about a prosecutor who had been accused of loan-sharking.
“In her articles on cigarette smuggling, she mentioned former Police Administration Director Veselin Veljović and Aleksandar Mrkić, who is currently a fugitive and is charged by the Special State Prosecutor’s Office with cigarette smuggling. Olivera Lakić also told me that she had a strange feeling that someone was following her, although she never actually saw anyone,” Jovović added.
The Vijesti editor also said that Lakić had written about an incident at the ‘Bigl’ nightclub involving Vuk Rajković and Zoran Bećirović.
“Bećirović published a book in which he claimed that we at Vijesti were involved in organizing the murder of his brother,” Jovović stated.
Defendant Goran Vukčević asked Jovović whether he had ever obtained information suggesting that those listed in the indictment were involved in the attack, and whether they would have committed such an act on behalf of the individuals about whom Olivera Lakić had written.
“I don’t know that. If a journalist has no personal connection to the attackers, that means the attack was ordered by someone else. In no case has it ever been determined who ordered attacks on journalists. There were even false volunteers who presented themselves as perpetrators in order to obstruct the investigation and divert it in the wrong direction. I believe that Olivera Lakić never wrote anything about the defendants in this case,” Jovović emphasized.
He expressed the view that during the investigative phase, the authorities should have examined the circumstances discussed in Lakić’s articles, as well as the individuals she mentioned.
“As President of the Commission for Monitoring Investigations of Attacks on Journalists, we requested copies of case files from the State Prosecutor’s Office, but were told that the investigation was classified, and therefore we did not receive the documentation,” he added.
Former head of the Nikšić Security Center, Milorad Žižić, stressed that all regional police chiefs across the country had been informed by then Police Director Vesko Damjanović that the shooting of Lakić had to be solved.
“After ten days, I received certain operational information which I forwarded to the director. At that time, two names were mentioned as participants — Mario Milošević and Filip Knežević, who allegedly carried out surveillance and monitoring,” Žižić testified, adding that then-director Damjanović had been informed of this.
Asked by prosecutor Nataša Bošković whether messages exchanged between him and Damjanović had appeared in the media at the time, Žižić said he recalled that such messages had been published on certain portals.
“I do not know whether those messages are authentic, whether someone hacked a phone, because I don’t know how they ended up in the media,” he added.
Defendant Goran Rakočević pointed out that Žižić mentioned the names of alleged participants but did not mention Filip Bešović.
“At the press conference they organized at the time, it was announced that Bešović had shot Olja,” he noted.
Witness Dragojla Popović stated that she was in the building on the fourth floor, sitting on her balcony, and that she heard a gunshot on the night Lakić was wounded.
“It was dark, and there was a large tree blocking the view. I don’t remember many details — many years have passed,” Popović said.
Defense attorney Marko Radović stated that it was highly indicative that while the suspects were in detention, this witness was never called to participate in an identification procedure.
In addition to Popović, witness Marko Filimonović was also heard.
As a reminder, the indictment of the Special State Prosecutor’s Office includes Milan Vujotić, Goran Rakočević, Filip Bešović, Sanja Božović, Veselin Bubanja, Luka Bulatović, Dejan Vukašinović, Darko Lalović, Branislav Karadžić, Mario Milošević, Mijajlo Stojanović, Aleksandar Ljumović, and Goran Vukčević.
This group is charged with the attack on former Vijesti journalist Olivera Lakić on 8 May 2018 and the murder of Miodrag Kruščić on 21 May 2018. In addition, they are charged with smuggling 554 kilograms of marijuana from Albania into Montenegro on 26 January 2021.
They face multiple serious criminal charges, including forming a criminal organization, aggravated murder, murder by incitement, illegal possession of weapons, and unauthorized production and trafficking of narcotics.
The trial continues on 26 December.
Source: Pobjeda