Knežević acquitted of charges in the „Karbon“ case
Businessman Duško Knežević was acquitted today of all charges in the “Karbon” case before the High Court in Podgorica.
The first-instance verdict was delivered by Judge Igor Đuričković.
He pronounced acquittals also for Brankica and Biljana Bašović and Predrag Dašić.
Following the verdict, Knežević’s lawyer Dražen Medojević said that this was „yet another, in a series of acquittals in cases, involving the defendant Knežević and the group of defendants alleged to have been part of his organized criminal group“.
- The judge presented, in a very detailed manner, all the acquitting and dismissing decisions. There was no element of unlawfulness, no elements of an organized criminal group, nor any damage caused to the business entity. All the arguments put forward by the Special State Prosecutor’s Office in a rather meaningless indictment, as well as the way in which Đorđe Đurić was granted the status of a witness, represent an unsuccessful attempt, and another acquittal has now been delivered - Medojević said.
He considers the situation regarding Knežević himself to be quite absurd, calling it “a mystery in terms of the length of pre-trial detention.”
- Why it has lasted so long, in my opinion, is completely without grounds. The defense was powerless despite all the arguments showing that he had no reason to flee. After such outcomes in the criminal proceedings themselves, the entire theory that he had a reason to escape is absurd and meaningless - Medojević concluded.
The indictment against Duško Knežević states, among other things, that Knežević, Predrag Dašić, Zoran Nikolić, Brankica Bašović and Biljana Bašović caused damage to the legal entity Global Karbon d.o.o. Podgorica, and unlawfully obtained financial gain in the amount of 1.942.000 euros for the legal entities Fin Invest, Atlas Group, RTV “Atlas”, RT “Mimoza”, Atlas System, and Mega Gulf Investments Holdings Limited.
The indictment of the Special State Prosecutor’s Office alleges that the defendant Duško Knežević organized a criminal organization in Montenegro in 2008, which operated until the end of 2017, and whose members included the other defendants, as well as Đorđe Đurđić, who appears in this case as a cooperating witness.