The Basic Court in Užice has accepted the appeal filed by the defense attorneys of the arrested Užice residents, meaning that seven demonstrators have been released.
Detention was lifted for Radovan Novaković, Pavle Cicvarić, Branko Nikolić, Aleksa Nikolić, Dejan Ćosić, Vladan Sinđić, and Marko Radovanović.
They were previously detained for allegedly “attacking an official” during the breaching of a police cordon on the first day of the highway blockade towards Užice.
Two more Užice residents were arrested a day later, and a decision on lifting their detention is still awaited.
“The Council’s position is that there are no grounds for ordering detention, so it was ordered that the defendants be immediately released. The decision has been delivered to the prison; now it’s a technical matter of how quickly they will be released, as they cannot all leave at once until they sign certain documentation,” said Mirko Filipović, the lawyer for the previously detained activists.
He will demand an investigation into why the case was sent to the Appellate Court in Kragujevac, as he claims that this caused the individuals to remain in detention for 3 days longer, and he suspects it was done to exert pressure on the court’s Council in making its decision on the appeal.
To reiterate, the Užice residents were ordered to be detained for up to 30 days due to the demonstrations. This decision led to widespread dissatisfaction among Užice residents, who protested almost every day since the decision was made. Defense attorneys filed an appeal that the Basic Court was supposed to decide on, but it was delegated to the Appellate Court in Kragujevac. Lawyers for the detainees previously told N1 that this was “outside all legality.” The case was then returned to the Basic Court in Užice.
MORE TOPICS:
Source: N1; Foto:N1/Žana Bulajić