The trial in the “Tunnel” case continues in the Basic Court in Podgorica. It concerns the digging of a tunnel from a residential building to a depot in the basement of the High Court in Podgorica and stealing certain items therefrom.
Of the eight accused persons, seven are charged with the criminal offence of criminal association in conjunction with the criminal offence of aggravated theft, while one defendant is also charged with the criminal offence of document forgery. The eighth defendant is charged only with the criminal offence of assisting the perpetrator after the fact.
Several witnesses were heard during the main hearing, which was held on 19 May. Among the first were Tamara Vojvodić, the owner of the retail space from which the tunnel to the High Court had been dug, and her mother Nataša Ćuković. They explained that they rented out the space through an agency, and that the tenants’ plan was to open a wedding dress salon in it. Apart from them, the employees of the real estate agency Ana Luburić and Kristina Vukčević-Laković also appeared before the court, explaining how they came into contact with the tenants.
The testimony of Mladen Radovanović, employee of the High Court depot, as well as that of the former president of that Court, Boris Savić, were also read. Radovanović said that there is no video surveillance in the court depot, although he had demanded that it be installed. Savić, on the other hand, explained in his testimony that there were no financial resources for such equipment. In his testimony given in 2023, he presented his own understanding of the intrusion into the court that he presided over.
“In my opinion, the intention was to take the drugs that were stored in the depot, that is, that those who broke in wanted to get the cocaine. They did not know that the cocaine was stored somewhere else, so it seems to me that they randomly chose weapons that were in good condition.”
The trial in the “Tunnel” case continued on 20 May, which is when Maja Baćović, the mother of Katarina Baćović (accused in the robbery of the depot) appeared before the court.
She explained that, together with her female colleague, she discovered a hole in the wall of the court depot through which the robbers entered the court building. She also confirmed that she did not know the other defendants in this case, and that her daughter never mentioned them in any of their conversations.
Let us recall that, in January, the Basic State Prosecutor’s Office confirmed the indictment against Montenegrin citizens Predrag Mirotić, Katarina Baćović and Nikola Milačić, and Serbian citizens Veljko Marković, Milan Marković, Dejan Jovanović and Vladimir Erić. They were accused of having dug a 30-metre long tunnel at the beginning of July 2023 from the basement of a residential building to the depot of the High Court in Podgorica, which stores evidentiary material from cases that are pending or have been concluded in that court. Marijan Vuljaj, who helped Baćović to hide, is also among the accused.
Neither the motive nor those who ordered the break-in are currently known, but the investigation revealed that weapons (19 pieces), several mobile phones and a small amount of drugs were stolen from the depot. These are pieces of evidence from cases that were, or are, pending before the High Court. So far, it has not been announced whether and in what way the theft of evidentiary material affected specific cases, and whether the material was ever found.
English