Manipulated statements, then dismissed the complaint: Former state prosecutor sentenced to five months in prison for abuse of office

The Court of Appeal of Montenegro rejected as unfounded the appeals of the Special State Prosecutor’s Office and upheld the High Court’s ruling against former state prosecutor Srđa Jovanović, who was found guilty of the criminal offense of abuse of office and sentenced to five months in prison.

By the same ruling, defendants Hakan Arikan and Mensur Uka were found guilty of aiding in the commission of the same criminal offense and were given suspended sentences. Each was sentenced to six months in prison, with the condition that the sentence will not be enforced if they do not commit a new criminal offense within two years of the judgment becoming final.

The Court of Appeal held that the High Court in Podgorica, after assessing all the evidence presented and the defense of the accused, correctly concluded that Srđa Jovanović, in his capacity as a public official, a state prosecutor in the Basic State Prosecutor’s Office in Kotor, committed the criminal offense he was charged with.

Jovanović made a decision to dismiss a complaint filed against Duško Pavićević for the criminal offense of grievous bodily harm committed against the injured party, Hakan Arikan.

Although he was aware that there was suspicion that Pavićević had committed a criminal offense, Jovanović dismissed the complaint, altering the original statements of the injured party Arikan in the process. The court states that Jovanović drafted new official documents containing false information, while destroying the earlier statements, which then served as the basis for dismissing the complaint.

The Court of Appeal concluded that in this case Jovanović was not guided by the interests of justice and fairness, but by the interests of others, thereby abusing his official powers.