Piperović: Lazović was not in service when Zvicer was in Kotor

 

One of the lawyers representing former Deputy Director of the Police Directorate Zoran Lazović, attorney Zoran Piperović, said today before the High Court that his client’s service ended on March 1, 2021, and that he could not see what documentary evidence concerning police actions after that date toward Radoje Zvicer, one of the leaders of the „Kavač“ clan, had to do with the former police official.

Attorney Piperović made the statement following the reading of documentary evidence - an operational initiative presented today before the panel presided over by Judge Veljko Radovanović by prosecutor Miloš Šoškić.

In addition to Lazović, the indictment also names retired Chief Special Prosecutor Milivoje Katnić and suspended Special Prosecutor Saša Čađenović, whom the prosecution accuses of cooperating with the Kavač clan. Katnić, Lazović and Čađenović have categorically rejected the allegations in their defence statements.

Prosecutor Šoškić said that on March 25, 2021, Zvicer’s identity on the Sky messaging platform was known and that he was allegedly linked to preparations for the assassination of Milić Minja Šaković. He also stated that Zvicer was in Kotor on April 1, 2021, and that the appearance was created that „measures were being taken“ against him, all with the „aim of enabling him to escape“.

Following this, attorney Piperović said that there was no better evidence that the defence had been right at the stage of confirming the indictment, when it told the court panel that there was neither a third member nor an organised criminal group.

- Saša Čađenović seems to have been thrown into the Katnić and Lazović case out of nowhere. The incompatible has been connected - Piperović said.

He explained in detail that when the prosecutor stated that Zvicer was in Kotor on March 27, 2021, what was stated in the indictment - that Lazović was no longer in service - was being overlooked.

- The prosecutor also states that on March 25 the authorities were aware of the details concerning preparations for Šaković’s murder... Lazović was not in service, nor was he in service on April 1, 2021, when Zvicer was in Kotor - Piperović said.

He asked what Lazović had to do with the matter when he was no longer with the Police Directorate.

- I have said this before, and I will say it again today: this trial will be concluded within four or five more hearings - Piperović said.

His colleague, attorney Stefan Jovanović, stressed that it had not been heard in the courtroom, nor could it have been heard, that Lazović, as the alleged chief, had ordered anyone to do or not do anything.

- Not only did we not hear that, but our client was not in service at the time. The prosecutor is relying on documents classified at a certain level of confidentiality. This means that they should not have been disclosed - attorney Jovanović said.

Defendant Katnić also raised an objection to the evidence read by prosecutor Šoškić.

- I was not aware that Zvicer was driving around Kotor, neither was I, nor Čađenović, nor the head of the Special Police Unit, Dragan Radonjić. This is the first time I have heard that he was moving freely around Kotor and that he had signed a power of attorney for lawyers in Montenegro. If it turns out that this is true, then this is a weakness of the security sector, not of Milivoje Katnić - the former Chief Special Prosecutor said.

Čađenović stated that in 2021 he had initiated proceedings against Zvicer and high-ranking members of the „Kavač“ criminal clan on suspicion that they had participated in the murder of Nikola Stanišić.

At today’s hearing, prosecutor Šoškić presented the statement of Milan Kankaraš, which he gave in his capacity as a citizen in March 2020. In it, he stated that he had heard that Duško Roganović was the „main person“ responsible for the sale of cocaine in Herceg Novi.

Kankaraš was later granted the status of a cooperating witness.

Čađenović stressed that he had conducted the proceedings lawfully, explaining that a person cannot be indicted solely on the basis of a cooperating witness’s testimony without other evidence.

- I do not know whether there was anything on Sky at the time, because in March 2020 we did not know about the application. If I had ‘sworn to Zvicer that I would protect Duško Roganović and the Kavač members,’ I would presumably have interrogated Kankaraš, directed him as to what he should and should not say, and I would not have granted him cooperating-witness status - Čađenović said.