A series of contradictions and illogicalities were presented by the witnesses of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade during the hearing held on Thursday in the proceedings for the alleged abuse of position against the inspectors of the Department for the Fight against Drugs of the Belgrade Police who participated in the exposure of Jovanjica - according to the indictment of the largest drug factory in Europe.
Inspectors Milan Isakov, Miloš Vešović and Miloš Knežević are accused of abusing Benjamin Hasanagić and Miloš Miletić on September 28, 2022 after they met to return the three hookahs he rented to Isakov and a debt of 13 thousand dinars. At the end of October of the same year, the inspectors were arrested and sent to detention cells surrounded by drug dealers whom they had previously arrested. Everything was followed by a huge tabloid hunt against the inspector. The accused inspectors claim that the entire process against them was staged with the help of the Prosecutor's Office and political power centers as revenge for discovering Jovanjica.
Let us recall that inspector Milan Isakov participated in the discovery of "Jovanjica" and together with his boss at the time, Slobodan Milenkovic, arrested Predrag Koluvia on November 13, 2019. He testified in that trial on September 6, 2023, and just a few hours later, the prosecution announced that it had filed an indictment against him and two of his colleagues from the Fourth Department of the Belgrade Police for abuse of office.
That is why Iaskov pointed out earlier in his defense that this accusation is revenge for "Jovanjica" and his testimony in the Special Court, when he said that there they discovered "a drug factory and the involvement of state and military security services in crime".
The judge doesn't even hear about "Jovanjica"
This is exactly what Isak's wife, Dunja, pointed out, who testified about how she and her husband rented hookahs together and met and sat together with the witness who now claims that he did not know that Isak was a police officer.
"If it hadn't been for the 'Jovanjica' case, my husband would not be sitting here," said Dunja Isakov.
Judge Milan Grkinić reacted violently.
"Don't tell me about Jovanjica."
Inspector Isakov's wife also spoke about how they knew that some criminal act was being prepared for him as revenge and how her husband was arrested.
"Milan received a call from a colleague from the internal control of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. He was at home then. He was told to 'go outside and surrender peacefully'. "Several policemen surrounded the house on October 25, 2022. He was arrested and while he was in custody, the inmates threatened to kill him, slaughter him and show him where he belongs," Inspector Isakov's wife said in the courtroom.
Maybe the judge doesn't want to hear about Jovanjica, but maybe it's actually necessary to understand why the inspectors say from the first day of their arrest that the process against them was rigged, and then it might be easier to understand why all the witnesses hired by the Prosecution were so contradictory .
Showering with hookahs
The alleged victim, Benjamin Hasanagić, claims that the police officers beat him because of a hookah debt and that he suffered severe physical injuries, i.e. that his eardrum burst.
Now, it remains unclear and poorly explained why, after the encounter with the policemen, the young man who was so badly injured was driving a car with a girl, whom the Court cannot call, because he "does not remember" her last name. Why did the seriously injured young man go to the doctor for the first time after 5 days, and only 17 days later did he receive confirmation that his eardrum had ruptured?
The contradiction reached its peak when Hasanagić claimed that he did not know why he met with the inspectors in the evening.
Marko Drašković, from the Tomanović law firm, who is the defense counsel for inspectors Isakov and Vešović, presented him with evidence in the form of telephone correspondence, so the unreliability of the testimony was completely clear.
And it was also confusing that Hasanagića first claimed that after the meeting with the inspectors, despite his injuries, he worked the following days, and then said that he did not remember whether he worked or not.
The judge himself noticed that the witness spoke about some details in today's testimony in the courtroom, which he did not mention to the prosecutor during the investigation. Hasanagić's explanation was that the questioning by the prosecutor "took a long time".
Defendant Miloš Vešović objected to Hasanagić's testimony. He pointed out that he made a construction out of the events and adjusted his statements, and that he said one thing to the prosecutor, and another in the courtroom
One moment that could be called bizarre attracted the full attention of everyone present in the courtroom: Benjamin Hasanagić said that he kept the hookahs he rented from Isakov in the shower cabin and that he bathed with them.
Injured, but working two jobs day and night
Even during the testimony of the other injured party, Miloš Miletić, illogicalities could not go unnoticed. For example, he said that Hasanagić kept a hookah near the entrance to the house.
Although, as he claims, the police beat him, Miletić said that after that he worked two jobs both day and night, during the day as a driver and at night in clubs.
Regarding Inspector Isakov, he said that he had seen him twice and that he only knew that he was called "Milanche".
Talking about what exactly he told the doctors about his injuries, and what and why he allegedly skipped it, he said that he, like Hasanagić, said that he was "beaten by unknown persons", and after the doctors decided to go to the police and reported beatings.
The defense reacted immediately.
"How unknown persons, when you said you know Isaac?"
"Well, I only know him as 'Milance', what can I say," answered Miletić.
Lawyer Dobričanin Nikodinović insisted that this part of the testimony is also illogical, because "everyone knows, at least all of us in this courtroom, that doctors would react immediately and call the police themselves, when someone tells them that they were beaten by unknown persons."
In support of the illogicality is part of Miletić's statement that he read newspaper articles about inspectors of the Fourth Department before going to the police for recognition, but when asked by the defense why he did not show the articles to the police to help them, Miletić did not have a clear answer.
Then there was a discussion in the courtroom due to the contradictions in Miletić's testimony.
Namely, he first said that he was not afraid when Isakov showed him his official ID during the meeting in September 2022 and that they had "quite normal communication" that evening until they began to argue a little more heatedly whether he and Hasanagić owed Isakov money for hookah or not.
Only ten minutes later, he told prosecutor Danijela Kljajić that he "was afraid", after showing his official identification.
Considering that the witness stated that he had no telephone communication with Isakov, that he did not even have his phone number, the defense reminded of the existence of the expert report on the telephone which shows the exact opposite.
A prepared witness?
The witness Uroš Tucović was not called by the defense or the Prosecution, but by the Court. Such witnesses must not be prepared for answers, however, already in the first minute of his address it became clear that Tucović knows very well what they will ask him.
The judge asked Tucovic: "Do you know why you are here?"
Witness Tucović: "Yes, I know, I should talk about Hasanagić's acquaintance with Isakov."
The defense attorney of the two inspectors, Marko Drašković, reacted very offensively to that.
The illogicalities in the testimony of this witness were also clear, when it is difficult for him not to know the first or last name of inspector Milan Isakov, although he confirmed that it was he who put him together with Hasanagić for renting a hookah. He also stated that he did not know that Isak was a policeman and that he did not know whether the injured young men knew that. He says he learned about the critical event in September 2022 "from the newspapers" when the inspectors were arrested.
The lawyer of the defendant Miloš Knežević, Zora Dobričanin Nikodinović, questioned the witness about when he read all the newspapers, in what periods, trying to emphasize the questionability of his credibility, since he answered many questions with 'I don't remember', 'I forgot the guy's name', "I didn't know he was a policeman", and the accused Isakov "was on the front pages, on television and portals for months".
