Serbian Ex-General Dismisses Charges in Montenegro Coup Trial

Former Serbian Gendarmerie Commander Bratislav Dikic said on Wednesday that the coup charges against him had been "invented" - and that he would never have planned to commit a terrorist attack in Montenegro.

Dikic was presenting his defence before the court in Podgorica at the trial in the coup case and pleaded not guilty to the charges that he was one of the key plotters who planned to overthrow the country's pro-Western government last October.

"I state with full responsibility that I was not aware of the existence of an any criminal organization," Dikic told the court.

"I don't know any of the Russians nor did I know the Montenegrin politicians also accused in this case ... This indictment reads like a fairytale," he said.

Dikic reiterated that a man of his intelligence and police experience, working with the police for 30 years, would never have done any of the things listed in the indictment.

Trial proceedings started at the High Court in Podgorica with the reading of the indictment against 14 Russian, Serbian and Montenegrin citizens suspected of attempting to overthrow the government to prevent Montenegro from joining NATO.

The eight defendants present in court on Wednesday, all charged with "creating a criminal organization" with the aim of undermining constitutional order, pleaded not guilty.

Eduard Shishmakov and Vladimir Popov, both reportedly Russian military intelligence officers, are accused of being behind the network of Serbian and Montenegrin citizens who planned to assassinate Montenegro's then Prime Minister, Milo Djukanovic, last October. They will be tried in absentia.

Others among the accused, three of whom are still at large, include the leaders of the main opposition...