Zvicer sentenced to 40 years in prison, Lazović to 20 years, Milović to 19
Kotor native Radoje Zvicer, whom Montenegrin police identify as one of the alleged leaders of the Kavač organised crime group, was sentenced on Friday by the High Court in Podgorica to a unified prison sentence of 40 years for the murder of Milan Ljepoja, money laundering, and drug trafficking.
The verdict was delivered by High Court Judge Veljko Radovanović.
Suspended police officer Ljubo Milović, who is also a fugitive, was sentenced to 19 years in prison for drug and cigarette smuggling, while suspended National Security Agency officer Petar Lazović received a 20-year prison sentence for illegal possession of narcotics and cigarette smuggling.
Lazović was acquitted of charges of abuse of office and illegal possession of weapons.
In addition to prison sentences, the court imposed financial penalties. Under the first-instance verdict, Lazović and Milović were each ordered to pay €100,000, Zvicer was fined €294,000, Lazović was ordered to pay an additional €32,000, Milović €31,800, while Zvicer and co-defendant Radovan Mujović were jointly ordered to pay €547,000.
Judge Radovanović sentenced Milan Vujotić and Nikola Spasojević to nine years and three months in prison each. Duško Roganović received a sentence of eight years and three months, Radovan Pantović 10 years, Radovan Mujović 10 years and nine months, Petar Mujović seven years and nine months, and Nikša Perović six years and six months.
The court also ordered the confiscation of an apartment belonging to Petar Mujović's father and a building owned by Nikša Perović in Radanovići, finding that the properties had been acquired through criminal activity.
In explaining the verdict, Judge Radovanović acquitted all defendants of charges relating to illegal possession of weapons.
In reaching its convictions, the trial panel relied on text and voice messages exchanged through the encrypted Sky ECC communications platform, which the court concluded had been exchanged among the defendants.
No drugs, cigarettes or weapons were seized in connection with this case.
Explaining Lazović's acquittal on the abuse of office charge, Judge Radovanović said the prosecution had failed to prove that Lazović had abused his official position or established what benefit he had allegedly obtained for Zvicer.
According to the indictment, Zvicer was charged with the murder of Milan Ljepoja, money laundering and drug trafficking. Prosecutors allege that members of a criminal organisation from Serbia, led by Veljko Belivuk and Marko Miljković, carried out Zvicer's orders on December 9, 2020. The indictment states that Ljepoja was lured to a house in the Belgrade suburb of Ritopek, where he was brutally tortured and killed.
Živković, Spasojević, Vujotić, Pantović and Roganović were also charged with establishing a criminal organisation and drug trafficking.
In addition to those offences, Radovan Mujović was charged with money laundering. His brother, Petar Mujović, was accused of attempting to murder the late Jovan Vukotić, the alleged leader of the rival Škaljari organised crime group, in October 2020. Perović was charged with laundering €926,100 on Zvicer's behalf.