The legal representative of Olivera Lakić, lawyer Dalibor Tomović, has submitted a motion to the High Court in Podgorica, expressing concern that if the case against those accused of injuring her in May 2018 is not separated from the proceedings against those charged with the murder of Miodrag “Migi” Kruščić, the statute of limitations may expire, Libertas Press reported.
“The criminal offense of serious bodily injury committed against Olivera Lakić on May 8, 2018, will absolutely expire in three years on May 8, 2028, concerning five defendants—Filip Bešović, Goran Rakočević, Luka Bulatović, Filip Knežević, and Veselin Bubanja. Once the absolute statute of limitations takes effect, it will permanently eliminate the possibility of prosecuting the accused for this criminal offense,” lawyer Tomović warned in his submission to the High Court in Podgorica.
Tomović first filed this request on December 9 of last year, during one of several postponed hearings, and reiterated it on March 6 of this year.
The lawyer pointed out that conducting a single trial for both the accused in the shooting of journalist Lakić and the murder of Kruščić would almost certainly lead to the expiration of the statute of limitations for the serious bodily injury charge, given the extensive amount of evidence that must be reviewed—examining and reading a vast amount of Sky ECC communications, video footage from 30 CDs, and the testimonies of witnesses and numerous experts.
“This is in addition to the frequent trial delays, which are common practice at the High Court when there is such a large number of defendants”, Tomović stated in his submission.
The indictment against the 14-member criminal group, led by high-ranking Kavac clan member Milan Vujotić (43), charged with the shooting of journalist Lakić and the murder of Kruščić, was filed on December 7, 2023.
Six Years Without a Trial
Even after six years and ten months since the shooting of journalist Lakić and the murder of Kruščić, the trial has yet to begin. The indictment, signed by special prosecutor Nataša Bošković, was sent back to the prosecution for correction on June 19, 2024.
A day later, prosecutor Bošković resubmitted the corrected indictment to the High Court in Podgorica, which confirmed it on August 5, 2024, thereby deciding to proceed with the trial of the criminal group accused of serious crimes.
In the seven months and 15 days since the indictment was confirmed, Judge Igor Đuričković, who presides over the three-member panel handling the case, has attempted to start the trial six times.
However, on all six occasions, the trial had to be postponed, meaning that, even after six years and ten months, there is still no trial.
The trial, originally scheduled to begin on December 9 last year, was postponed due to the absence of one of the accused, Dejan Vukašinović. The reason given was that the postal service had failed three times to deliver his summons.
A new hearing was scheduled for January 31, but it too was postponed when two defendants, Mario Milošević and Goran Rakočević, requested that Judge Đuričković be removed from the case.
The following two hearings, on February 10 and 11, were postponed due to the absence of defense lawyer Stefan Jokić, who didn’t appear due to a work stoppage by the Serbian Bar Association.
On February 24, the trial was delayed by 70 minutes due to obligations of one of the panel members. It was then postponed once again when lawyer Marko Radović was unable to attend due to illness.
On March 6, when all parties were finally present in court, Judge Đuričković postponed the trial for the sixth time, rescheduling it for March 27 to allow the Special State Prosecutor’s Office time to submit any new evidence against the accused.
Prosecutor Bošković had previously announced the possibility of presenting new evidence. However, Libertas was unable to confirm whether any new evidence has since been submitted to the court.
New Judge Takes Over the Case
According to unofficial sources, Judge Đuričković will no longer preside over the trial of those accused of injuring journalist Lakić and murdering Kruščić. Instead, the case has allegedly been assigned to his colleague, Judge Radovan Vlaović.
Until nearly a month ago, Vlaović was a judge at the Basic Court in Podgorica. He was appointed to the High Court in Podgorica by decision of the Judicial Council.
Besides Milan Vujotić, Filip Bešović, Goran Rakočević, Luka Bulatović, Filip Knežević, and Veselin Bubanja, the indictment by prosecutor Bošković also includes former police officer Darko Lalović, Mario Milošević, Dejan Vukašinović, Branislav Karadžić, Goran Vukčević, Mijajlo Stojanović, Aleksandar Ljumović, and Sanja Božović.
Filip Knežević, who is on the run, is accused of shooting Olivera Lakić on May 8, 2018, in front of the entrance to her apartment building in Podgorica. She was wounded in the leg.
Mario Milošević has been identified as the direct perpetrator of the murder of Podgorica resident Miodrag Kruščić.
He is suspected of killing Kruščić on May 21, 2018, while the victim was sitting in a café in the Stari Aerodrom neighborhood of Podgorica.
In addition to these charges, the accused are also charged with smuggling 554 kilograms of marijuana from Albania to Montenegro on January 26, 2021, as previously stated by Special Prosecutor’s Office spokesman, Prosecutor Vukas Radonjić.
Source: Libertas press