Detention has been ordered for businessman Aco Đukanović, the brother of the former president and prime minister of Montenegro, Milo Đukanović, due to reasonable suspicion that he committed the criminal offense of illegal possession and carrying of weapons and explosive materials, the Basic State Prosecutor’s Office (ODT) in Nikšić announced today.
The statement notes that detention was ordered for him due to the risk of flight.
“Upon the proposal of the Basic State Prosecutor’s Office in Nikšić, detention has been ordered for A.Đ. due to reasonable suspicion that he committed the criminal offense of illegal possession and carrying of weapons and explosive materials. Detention was ordered due to the risk of flight. It is reasonably suspected that A.Đ. unauthorizedly kept weapons and ammunition in his house in Nikšić,” the statement reads.
“Vijesti” reported this morning that while awaiting the decision of the investigating judge of the Basic Court in Nikšić, Sava Mušikić, on whether Aco Đukanović will prove from detention that the arsenal of weapons found in the attic of the house in Rastoci is not his, it is also expected that the Podgorica prosecutor’s office will begin a detailed analysis of the documentation seized from his apartment in Podgorica.
According to the same information, this refers to extensive documentation stored in multiple binders, which police inspectors seized during the search of the apartment of the brother of former president Milo Đukanović.
The Police Administration previously officially announced that certain documentation was taken during the search of Đukanović’s apartment in the center of Podgorica.
“During the search in Podgorica, police officers took certain documentation, about which the competent prosecutor’s office was informed, and a case will be formed regarding the aforementioned for the purpose of further action. To protect the interests of the police officers’ proceedings, we are unable at this moment to provide more information about the activities carried out on the territory of Podgorica,” the UP announced after Đukanović’s arrest.
Two days ago, “Vijesti” published that, according to the newspaper’s unofficial findings, several expensive watches were listed and photographed during the search of Đukanović’s apartment on Vuka Karadžića Street in Podgorica, from where the documentation was also taken.
Following the search of his property in Podgorica and Nikšić, two cases were formed.
In the one initiated due to the discovery of weapons and ammunition, an order to conduct an investigation was issued, and prosecutor Vanja Sinđić proposed that the court order him detention for up to 30 days.
Judge Mušikić heard the suspect for illegal possession of weapons last night, but did not make a decision on the proposal for detention immediately.
One of Đukanović’s defense attorneys, lawyer Nikola Martinović, told reporters that the judge has a deadline to make a decision until 2:30 a.m. on March 3, when Đukanović’s 72-hour detention ordered by prosecutor Sinđić expires.
According to Martinović, certain items listed in the original criminal complaint were excluded from the order to conduct the investigation – bulletproof vests and a portion of the weapons for which it was subsequently determined that a permit exists.
“In relation to last night’s criminal complaint, an order to conduct an investigation was issued which does not include a part of the items that the prosecutor put in the criminal complaint, i.e., which the police identified as a criminal offense. Firstly, there are no longer bulletproof vests because that is not a criminal offense, there are no weapons that supposedly existed, for which they determined there is a permit. There are still some weapons for which I claim a permit exists, they couldn’t find it, but we will find it,” Martinović said last night, as reported by the Radio and Television Nikšić (RTNK) portal.
He added that Đukanović answered all the questions of the judge, who examined him in detail.
Đukanović was brought before the investigating judge of the Basic Court in Nikšić last night around 7 p.m., and the hearing ended shortly before 9 p.m.
Yesterday, his defense was also provided by a three-member legal team consisting of Đukanović’s sister, lawyer Ana Đukanović, and her colleagues Neda Ivović and Martinović.
A group of relatives and friends of the arrested Đukanović gathered in front of the Nikšić court building again yesterday, among whom were the wife and son of his brother Milo – Lidija and Blažo Đukanović.
Aco Đukanović was arrested on the night between February 27 and 28, around 2:30 a.m., following a search of his property in Podgorica and Nikšić.
The Basic State Prosecutor’s Office in Nikšić announced that after the hearing, a detention of up to 72 hours was ordered due to reasonable suspicion that he unauthorizedly kept weapons and ammunition in the family house in the Nikšić settlement of Rastoci. The risk of flight was cited as the reason for the detention.
According to unofficial information from “Vijesti,” Đukanović has crossed the state border more than 20 times in the past six months.
After a several-hour hearing at the prosecutor’s office, Martinović said on Saturday evening that part of the found weapons belongs to Milo Đukanović, while part was inherited from their late father and documentation exists for it.
“Some rifles with a dedication to his brother Milo Đukanović were found, and it is definitively clear that those rifles have no connection whatsoever with Aco Đukanović. Also, a quantity of weapons belonging to his late father was found, for which documentation exists. The police took all those weapons. They will be the subject of expert analysis, and I think there will be no dispute about that. Aco agrees to the expert analysis. DNA was taken. To our knowledge, the DNA will absolutely certainly show that Aco Đukanović has no connection with those rifles,” said Martinović.
Regarding the ammunition found at Đukanović’s, Martinović said it was likely forgotten by officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) and the National Security Agency (ANB), who were securing Milo Đukanović.
“One package of ammunition of various calibers was found… That is probably a leftover from the MUP of Montenegro and the ANB, the former State Security, which provided security for the protected person in that space, the former prime minister and president of Montenegro – Milo Đukanović,” Martinović said two nights ago.
He said the same about the bulletproof vests found in the house.
“As for the bulletproof vests, we also assume that those vests were left by members of the MUP of Montenegro who have been in that house for years—everyone in Nikšić knows that, both in front and inside—performing security for protected persons and all persons who stayed in that house.”
Answering a question from “Vijesti” about whether he considers the police and ANB negligent or forgetful and why they would leave that much ammunition in any house of any protected person, Martinović said:
“I don’t know what ‘that much’ is to you; it is not my place to deal with what the ANB or the police do, it is my place to deal with and clearly show that Aco Đukanović has no connection with that ammunition and those pistols.”
He pointed out that the weapons have numbers and that they are not forged weapons of any kind.
Two days ago, the UP announced that they conducted searches of several of Đukanović’s buildings and premises, based on orders obtained from the territorially competent prosecutor’s offices and courts in Podgorica and Nikšić.
They explained that during the activities undertaken in the territory of Nikšić, while searching the family house in Rastoci, they found a large quantity of firearms and ammunition:
“A ‘Mauser’ brand hunting carbine with an optical sight, in illegal possession. A ‘Brno’ brand rifle with a ‘Bushnell’ brand optical sight, in illegal possession. An unknown brand shotgun, in illegal possession. An unknown brand pistol, in illegal possession. An ‘M-48’ brand hunting carbine, in illegal possession.
A ‘CZ 99 PARA’ brand pistol with a magazine containing five pieces of ammunition and a weapons license in the name of a deceased family member. Over 400 pieces of ammunition of various brands and calibers. Three empty magazines. Five protective ballistic bulletproof vests. ‘Zeiss’ brand binoculars,” they stated.
Aco Đukanović is the largest shareholder of Prva Banka (around 41.5%). The bank has been in the public focus for years due to state aid in 2008, subsequent suspicions regarding the manner of returning that money, as well as due to supervisory measures and business indicators in recent years.
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Source: N1; Photo: Pixabay