Defence to Offer ‘Secret Files’ Evidence in Montenegro ‘Coup Plot’ Retrial

Democratic Front leaders Milan Knezevic (L) and Andrija Mandic (R) at a pre-election rally in Podgorica, Montenegro in March. Photo: EPA-EFE/BORIS PEJOVIC

Defence lawyer Miroje Jovanovic asked the court to separate the proceedings against Mandic, Knezevic and Mandic's driver Mihailo Cadjenovic from the other ten defendants as the secret files apparently do not relate to them.

"The new facts only concern the Democratic Front members and as such cannot be communicated to the other defendants or their defence lawyers. The exclusion of the public would not be sufficient protection", Jovanovic told the court.

On February 2021, Montenegro's Appeal Court annulled the first-instance verdicts issued in the trial, asking the Higher Court to repeat the trial that former opposition leaders Mandic and Knezevic claimed was politically motivated.

The court revoked the first-instance verdict due to procedural mistakes, claiming significant violations of criminal procedures. The Appeal Court started hearings on the defence appeal in September.

At a press conference on Sunday, Knezevic accused former Special State Prosecutors Milivoje Katnic and Sasa Cadjenovic of abuse of office over the trial.

"According to a new evidence document, Katnic and Cadjenovic wrote the questions and answers to the potential witness Joseph Assad. He was supposed to learn them and thus accuse Mandic and me of hiring him for the so-called plot coup. Since Assad refused to do so, the Montenegrin prosecution issued a Interpol red notice for him," Knezevic said.

In August 2018, the prosecution called for the arrest of a former CIA officer Joseph Assad, accusing him of involvement in the allegedly Russian-backed coup attempt in 2016.

Assad was temporarily...