The tunnel into the court docket storage room, which was about 30 metres lengthy. Photograph: Montenegrin authorities.
All seven individuals accused of digging a tunnel into the underground depot of the Increased Courtroom in Montenegro’s capital and stealing proof had been acquitted on Friday in a first-instance verdict.
Veljko Markovic, Milan Markovic, Dejan Jovanovic, Vladimir Eric, Predrag Mirotic, Katarina Bacovic and Nikola Milacic had been acquitted of forming a legal affiliation for aggravated theft, whereas Marijan Vuljaj was acquitted of aiding the perpetrators. A scarcity of proof was given as the explanation for the acquittal.
An unknown group dug a tunnel from the basement of a constructing throughout the road from the Increased Courtroom into the court docket’s proof depot, which was damaged into on September 8, 2023. The warehouse had contained objects associated to ongoing trials, together with weapons and medicines.
The thieves stole some proof saved there, in response to the Podgorica Prosecutor’s Workplace and police. Investigators decided that the tunnel, which led into the court docket depot, had been dug from late July 2023.
Explaining the ruling, the court docket said there was no proof that the accused dedicated the crimes of legal affiliation and aggravated theft. It was additionally famous that no DNA was discovered within the tunnel, or contained in the Excessive Courtroom’s depot, and the court docket couldn’t conclude that the accused had dug the tunnel.
“There’s solely a level of suspicion, since they had been seen on digicam transferring by the town, however there isn’t any concrete proof,” decide Borko Loncar stated on Friday.
Decide Loncar famous that the motive for digging the tunnel was by no means established. He added that the worth of the stolen objects, estimated at round 11,000 euros, may hardly justify such a critical and dangerous operation.
In accordance with the decision, neither medicine nor different objects from the recordsdata had been confirmed to be the goal, and those that dug the tunnel may have recognized the place objects of larger significance had been saved, had that been their intention.
Loncar identified that the digging happened within the very centre of the capital, close to key state establishments, and had concerned in depth work that was neither prevented nor detected promptly.
“It is a nice disgrace for the safety sector in Montenegro,” he added.
In accordance with the decision, the tunnel was solely found by probability, when a court docket clerk observed uncommon exercise throughout a listing and located a gap resulting in the underground passage.
