N18.T2 – New Indictment Proposal Against Milivoje Katnić and Saša Čađenović
HRA NEWSLETTER 18 – TOPIC 2
The Special State Prosecution (SSP) has filed an indictment proposal with the Higher Court in Podgorica against former Chief Special Prosecutor Milivoje Katnić and Special Prosecutor Saša Čađenović on suspicion of committing the extended criminal offence of abuse of office and the criminal offence of unlawful influence.
The SSP suspects that the two, while leading the “Coup d’État” case, pressured defendant Joseph Assad to provide a statement favourable to them.
“The subject of the indictment proposal and proceedings is the joint decision of the defendants to reach an agreement with the legal representative of J.A., a United States national against whom the Special State Prosecution and defendant S.Č. had initiated criminal proceedings for the offences of forming a criminal organisation and attempted terrorism by aiding, whereby J.A. would come to Montenegro and testify in the manner required of him by the defendants in proceedings before the Higher Court in Podgorica against defendants A.M. and M.K., leaders of the political alliance D.F., and other persons, for the criminal offences of forming a criminal organisation, attempted terrorism, and preparation of acts against the constitutional order and security of Montenegro through instigation, thereby confirming the allegations of the Special State Prosecution’s indictment against them,” the SSP stated.
In return, the SSP alleges, Assad was offered “the withdrawal of national and international arrest warrants against him, that he would not be detained or remanded in custody, and that the criminal proceedings against him would be discontinued.”
The Court of Appeals of Montenegro in February dismissed the SSP’s appeal and upheld the July 2024 judgment of the Higher Court in Podgorica in the “Coup d’État” case. That decision acquitted current Speaker of the Parliament of Montenegro Andrija Mandić, opposition Democratic People’s Party leader Milan Knežević, and all other defendants of charges of forming a criminal organisation and attempted terrorism.
Katnić is already facing separate proceedings in which he is charged with abuse of office and participation in a criminal organisation, while Čađenović is charged with forming a criminal organisation and multiple counts of abuse of office.
Katnić has been in pre-trial detention since 14 April 2024, while Čađenović was detained from December 2022 to July 2024, after which supervisory measures were imposed — first a prohibition on leaving his residence, and from October 2025 the confiscation of his passport.
In June 2024, an investigation was also opened against Katnić on suspicion that he committed a war crime against the civilian population in the Cavtat area in 1992.
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