Knežević: Novović protected Injac from certain imprisonment, I responsibly claim that
The leader of the Democratic People’s Party Milan Knežević stated that Chief Special Prosecutor Vladimir Novović protected former Minister of Defence Olivera Injac from certain imprisonment.
Speaking recently on Radio Television of Herceg Novi, Knežević referred to a letter by former special prosecutor Lidija Mitrović, saying that her public address had further disturbed the public.
- It raised the issue of how the State Prosecutor’s Office operates, because she served for a long time in the Special State Prosecutor’s Office, and now we see that she is accusing Novović in the case of Olivera Injac - Knežević said.
He recalled that Novović had issued binding instructions twice to ensure that Olivera Injac would be protected from criminal prosecution.
- Perhaps the Montenegrin public has forgotten this, but in my opinion Mr. Novović protected Ms. Injac from certain prison. I state this responsibly, because as President of the Committee on Security and Defence I had the opportunity to see how those cadets were sent to Greece for NATO exercises and training, and everything that was happening in the Ministry of Defence while it was headed by Ms. Injac – he said.
He added that this is yet another scandal that will further shake Montenegro.
- I am not sure that Mitrović will stop here, but that she will reveal many more matters and findings from the Special State Prosecutor’s Office, and I fear that this will further undermine confidence in our judicial sector - Knežević said.
It should be recalled that Mitrović disappeared before she was due to begin serving a seven-month prison sentence, and in an open letter to the public she stated that she had decided not to report to prison, claiming that she had been unjustly convicted in what she described as a staged and unlawful proceeding.
Mitrović claims that her years-long persecution was organized and led by Chief Special Prosecutor Vladimir Novović because of her professional conduct in specific cases. She says that the attacks against her by Novović began at the end of 2022 in connection with the case of former Defence Minister Injac.
- Mr. Novović’s obligation to protect Olivera Injac from criminal proceedings was of such a nature that from that moment he began a personal vendetta against me, sparing no means. He did not allow the aforementioned person to be subject to any criminal procedural treatment by the SSPO. I would not comment on the motives for such behavior by the Chief Special Prosecutor - Mitrović stated, among other things.
Television E reported back in 2024 that within just four months Novović issued two binding instructions to Special Prosecutor Mitrović in order to prevent the filing of an indictment for abuse of office against former Defence Minister Injac.
According to documentation obtained by Television E, on December 1, 2022, and April 6, 2023, in the case conducted against Minister Injac, Novović used urgent binding instructions to prevent the filing of an indictment that had already been officially registered in the records of the Special State Prosecutor’s Office.
According to information from the TV E Portal from within the Special State Prosecutor’s Office, this was the first and only time since the establishment of the SSPO that a Chief Special Prosecutor issued two binding instructions in a single case.