Montenegro ‘Coup Plotter’ Hiding in Serbian Embassy Could Go Free

Branka Milic. Photo courtesy of IN4S,

On February 5, Montenegro's Appeal Court annulled the first-instance verdicts in the trial, asking the Higher Court to stage a retrial in the case that the opposition had claimed was politically motivated. The court said it revoked the first-instance verdict because of procedural errors.

The press officer for the Higher Court, Aida Muzurovic, said on Tuesday that the court had also revoked the decision to remand Milic in custody.

"This decision is not final and an appeal can be lodged against it with the Court of Appeals within three days from the day of receipt of the decision," Muzurovic told Pobjeda newspaper.

In November 2018, during the trial in the coup case, Milic fled the courthouse and entered the Serbian embassy in Podgorica, where she has remained ever since, unreachable for arrest.

She has been dubbed the 'Montenegrin Assange', a reference to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who took refuge from arrest in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

Montenegro has asked Serbia to allow its law-enforcement authorities to enter the embassy but has received no response.

In May 2019, the Serbian ambassador to Podgorica, Vladimir Bozovic, told Montenegrin authorities that Milic needs urgent medical help and, as a Serbian citizen, should be allowed to go home for treatment.

In the first-instance verdict in May 2018, the Higher Court in Montenegro sentenced 13 people, including two Russian military intelligence officers, eight Serbs and two Montenegrin opposition leaders for to up to 15 years in prison for staging an attempted coup in 2016.

They were found guilty of plotting to commit "terrorist acts" and undermine the constitutional order of Montenegro during the...