The Special State Prosecution (SDT) today returned a phone and two laptops to blogger and memer Radosav Vrbica, six months after the statutory deadline had expired.

Previously, the Special Police Unit (SPO), acting on an SDT order, had seized the aforementioned personal items from Vrbica on 3 October 2025, on suspicion that he had committed the criminal offences of abuse of official position and disclosure of classified information, even though he has never held an official position.

The statutory deadline for retaining temporarily seized items is three months, provided that criminal proceedings have not been initiated in the meantime. As no proceedings were initiated in this case, that deadline expired as far back as 3 January 2026.

Attorney Dalibor Tomović, engaged by HRA to represent Vrbica, had previously contacted the SPO on multiple occasions by letter, requesting information and the return of the seized items. He subsequently filed a motion to initiate proceedings before the Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution, as well as a lawsuit with the Basic Court in Podgorica against the state of Montenegro for the unlawful retention of the seized items.

The Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution in the meantime issued a notification that the state had not accepted the mediation process within the prescribed deadline.

The temporary seizure of personal items lasting beyond the legally prescribed period, without explanation and without the initiation of criminal proceedings, constitutes a violation of the right to property and the right to fair treatment. Although the items have finally been returned, the state must bear responsibility for the violation of citizens’ rights by its authorities, so that, among other things, similar occurrences do not repeat themselves.