The Court of Appeal of Montenegro overturned the decision of the Supreme Court of Podgorica, according to which two Russians, Eduard Shishmakov and Vladimir Popov, were sentenced in absentia to prison terms in the coup d’etat case. This is reported on the website of the Court of Appeal.
“The Judicial Collegium overturned the decision of the court of first instance, since in the procedure for its issuance and in the verdict itself there were serious violations of the provisions of criminal proceedings, due to which neither factual nor legal conclusions could be accepted in the verdict of the court of first instance, noted in the statement.
Initially, Shishmakov and Popov were sentenced in absentia to 15 and 12 years in prison. However, according to the court, “the existence of criminal offenses in which the defendants were guilty” has not been proven. The verdicts were also canceled and leaders of the “Democratic Front” of Montenegro Andria Mandic and Milan Knezhevich. They promised to send the case file for reconsideration.
The planned terrorist attacks in Montenegro became known in October 2016. Then the local authorities detained 20 citizens of Serbia, who, according to the investigation, were planning attacks in various regions of the country before the parliamentary elections. Soon several Russian citizens were deported from Serbia for preparing terrorist attacks. Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev intervened in resolving the conflict between states.