Novović remains silent on Katnić’s allegations that Šoškić manipulated SKY messages

Although former Chief Special Prosecutor Milivoje Katnić filed a criminal complaint on February 27 with the Special State Prosecutor’s Office against prosecutor Miloš Šoškić, accusing him of abuse of office, there has been no response from the SSPO.

In the complaint, reviewed by Portal ETV and Television E, Katnić points out that there is reasonable suspicion that prosecutor Šoškić knowingly omitted SKY messages sent by Ljubo Milović to police officer Ivan Stamatović. It is also stated that prosecutor Šoškić failed to prosecute officer Stamatović, who according to Sky communications, used „force and threats“ against Milan Kankaraš to extort a statement and compel him to become a cooperating witness against branches of the Kavač and Škaljari clans from Herceg Novi.

HIDING SKY MESSAGES

In the complaint, Katnić quotes messages that prosecutor Šoškić allegedly deliberately omitted, as they show how officer Stamatović forced Kankaraš to say what he was told:

„We kidnapped him, shoved him into the car, stayed silent on the way up; up there we put a bag over his head, beat him, tied his legs, and then he started little by little. After solid beatings and the bag, he started talking from the day he was born - everything he knew...“

This is only part of the messages that prosecutor Šoškić either did not see or did not want to see, since Kankaraš’s testimony was meant to serve as evidence that the leadership of the SSPO and the police did not want to prosecute organized crime member Duško Roganović.

It was precisely this allegedly coerced statement that the special prosecutor used as supposed evidence in the indictment against former Chief Special Prosecutor Milivoje Katnić, former high-ranking police official Zoran Lazović, and suspended Special Prosecutor Saša Čađenović.

THEY PROSECUTED ZVICER, NOW ACCUSED OF BEING MEMBERS OF HIS GROUP

According to the indictment by Special Prosecutor Miloš Šoškić, Milivoje Katnić, Zoran Lazović, and Saša Čađenović are accused of becoming members of a criminal organization allegedly created by its leaders, Radoje Zvicer and Slobodan Kašćelan.

In one of his statements, Milan Kankaraš said that Duško Roganović from Herceg Novi, one of the high-ranking members of the Kavač criminal clan, was responsible for drug distribution in the Bay of Kotor. From this statement, prosecutor Šoškić derives the accusation against Katnić, Čađenović, and Lazović that they failed to prosecute Roganović for drug distribution.

However, apart from Kankaraš’s statement, there was no material evidence to support the accusation. Evidence of intentional prosecutorial selection is also seen in the fact that Šoškić omitted from the indictment testimonies of police officers who stated that the group against which evidence had been collected was prosecuted, and that at the time Kankaraš had not provided proof that Roganović was one of the key drug distributors.

„RIGGING“ THE EVIDENCE

- Prosecutor Miloš Šoškić knew that evidence obtained in this way, namely the questioning of Milan Kankaraš as a citizen, a suspect, and a cooperating witness, could not be used for court decisions or in proceedings, either by the prosecutor or the court. Despite this knowledge, he used them in the prosecutorial investigation and, instead of proposing to the investigating judge that they be excluded from the case file, he submitted them to the court along with other evidence - Katnić stated in the criminal complaint.

Katnić also claims that prosecutor Šoškić did not include original communications in the case files. This is not the first time the special prosecutor has been accused of intentional and unlawful selection of evidence.

ANTE NOBILO’S EVIDENCE

Croatian lawyer Ante Nobilo submitted materials to Vladimir Novović as early as last September, allegedly proving unlawful conduct by the special prosecutor in the case against Milivoje Katnić.

He spoke about this in an interview for Television E:

- In order to obtain at least something compromising against Katnić, prosecutor Šoškić and his associates extracted certain messages from Sky communications between various members of the top ranks of Zvicer’s Kavač organization, but only some messages, so that the context would be lost - Nobilo explained.

As Katnić’s legal representative, Nobilo personally delivered all concealed messages to the head of the Special State Prosecutor’s Office, Vladimir Novović, last September.

SILENCE OF VLADIMIR NOVOVIĆ

Although seven months have passed, there has been no response from the Special State Prosecutor’s Office.

Portal ETV and Television E previously published numerous messages from encrypted phones containing threats against Katnić, Lazović, and Čađenović, allegedly from individuals within the Kavač criminal group.

However, these communications were also of no interest to the prosecutor; they are neither mentioned nor included in Šoškić’s indictment against Lazović and Katnić, nor in the confirmed indictment against Čađenović. None of the messages directly threatening liquidation of Katnić, Lazović, and Čađenović appear in the 300-page revised indictment by prosecutor Šoškić.

Katnić and Lazović have been in detention since April 14, 2024. The High Court rejected the defense’s request that Katnić be released pending trial on bail of €1,199,000 in real estate owned by him and close family members.

On March 30, the judicial panel chaired by Judge Veljko Radovanović also rejected defense lawyer Zoran Piperović’s proposal to release Lazović from detention.