Montenegro 'Coup Plotter' Says Evidence Was Planted

Former Serbian Gendarmerie commander Bratislav Dikic has said that - during his arrest on October 16 for planning a coup in Montenegro - a Montenegrin policeman "planted evidence" on him, namely a phone and keys to a warehouse containing weapons.

Dikic is under arrest in Montenegro for allegedly plotting a coup on election day in Montenegro.

He reportedly told researchers from the Council for Civil Control - which is monitoring his custody - that a police associate that day first invited him to a drink at a certain location - which he declined - and then met him near the shopping mall in the capital, Podgorica.

There, he says the policeman gave him a new cell phone and dropped a set of keys in his car - the keys were to the house where he had been invited for a drink - and contained weapons.

"I did not accept the invitation to drink 'rakija' [brandy] at the house, and so probably avoided being arrested in the house with the weapons," the Council quoted Dikic as saying.

Dikic was among 20 paramilitaries originally detained in Montenegro on October 16 in connection with the alleged coup. Some have since been released.

The Prosecutor's Office says it has "reasonable suspicion" that a criminal organisation had been formed in Serbia and Montenegro with a plan to attack citizens and police in front of the parliament once the results of Sunday's general election were announced, before taking over the assembly and declaring that the party of their choice had won the polls.

"We also suspect the criminal organization planned to deprive the Montenegrin Prime Minister [Milo Djukanovic] of his freedom," the Prosecutor's Office said.

The claims have embarrassed neighbouring Serbia, where authorities deny any...