All defendants in the Stanovi case acquitted

AUTHOR:M.J. GDNUS

Judge of the specialized department of the Higher Court in Podgorica Vesna Kovačević acquitted all defendants in the "Stanovi" case, writes Vijesti.

This is a first-instance verdict.

The indictment charged the members of the Commission for Resolving Housing Issues of the Government of Montenegro from 2016-2020 with abuse of official position.

An indictment was filed against the defendants Predrag Bošković, Budimir Šegrt, Suad Numanović, Sanja Vlahović, Ivan Brajović, Dražen Miličković, Damir Šehović, Dragica Sekulić, Osman Nurković, Suzana Pribilović, Jelena Radonjić and Aleksandar Jovićević, due to the existence of reasonable suspicion that, in the period from 2016 to 2020, as members of the Housing Commission of the Government of Montenegro, they, as co-perpetrators, committed the extended criminal offense of abuse of official position, for which a prison sentence of two to 12 years is prescribed.

"The defendants are charged with having, contrary to the Decision on the method and criteria for resolving the housing needs of officials, which prescribed that the resolution of housing needs be achieved according to the plan for resolving housing needs that contains the amount of funds for the allocation of loans for improving housing conditions, that a loan for improving housing conditions can be allocated in the amount of up to 15,000 euros, and that the amount of the loan is determined based on the scope of works assessed by the expert commission of the then Property Administration, without a plan for resolving housing needs and the assessment of the expert commission of the Administration, approved and allocated housing loans for improving housing conditions for 119 public officials and employees of state bodies and state administration bodies, in amounts between 17,500 and 40,000 euros, and thus obtained a benefit for them and caused damage to the budget of Montenegro, in the total amount of 2,604,740.59 euros," explained Special Prosecutor Vukas Radonjić.

In his closing argument a month ago, Radonjić said, among other things, that this trial was not politically motivated, and that he believed that the guilt of the accused had been unequivocally proven.

The defense attorney for defendant Predrag Bošković, attorney Mihailo Volkov, said in his closing argument that the "Stanovi" case was a political trial.

The defense attorneys proposed to the court to acquit all defendants.

"From the beginning of the trial, the defense has been emphasizing the fact that this is a politically motivated proceeding. We were encouraged to reach this conclusion by former Prime Minister Dritan Abazović, who, according to our knowledge, participated in this," Volkov said.