By announcing that plea agreements will no longer be concluded for serious criminal offenses and publicly admitting that numerous plea agreements could have a negative effect for the accused persons “to conclude that they are committing criminal offenses and that, if discovered, they will receive more lenient imprisonment sentence”, Chief Special Prosecutor Milivoje Katnić confirmed that in the previous period, the Special State Prosecutor’s Office has agreed on the sentences with the defendants which have not suppressed, but encouraged crime.
Let us remind that the Special State Prosecutor’s Office mainly agreed sentences with members of the Budva criminal group that are well below the prescribed minimum, ignoring the fact that these are the most serious crimes of corruption whose committing has caused damage in the amount of tens of millions Euros.
It is precisely this practice of the Special State Prosecutor’s Office that results in what the Chief Special Prosecutor has now “noticed” – that defendants are committing criminal offenses convinced that, if discovered, they will agree more lenient sentence with the State Prosecutor’s Office. That is why the responsibility should be determined, as well as the motives for which the prosecutors agreed sentences with the defendants which have incited crime and which are the reason why criminals are now committing criminal offenses convinced that, if discovered, they will agree more lenient sentence with the prosecutors.
In the case of Budva criminal group, the State Prosecutor’s Office most often agreed to impose a sentence of six months in prison for criminal offenses for which a sentence ranging from two to ten years in prison is prescribed and which resulted in a multi-million dollar gain. Even the non-experts in the field of law could have concluded that such sentences do not suppress corruption, but send a strong message that corruption definitely pays off. That is why late wisdom of the Chief Special Prosecutor cannot be a justification for the apparently illegal work and agreements on sentences that the public perceived as mockery of justice and laws.
When all this is added to the fact that Svetozar and Miloš Marović successfully avoided serving of already lenient sentences which incite corruption, it is the best way to see the results in the fight against corruption achieved by the Special State Prosecutor’s Office.
Let us remind that MANS has repeatedly pointed out that sentences that the Special Prosecutor’s Office agrees for the most serious crimes, and which the court uncritically accepts, are unjust and they do not achieve the purpose of punishment, but instead send the message that the crime pays off. Also, in the procedure of amending the Criminal Procedure Code, for the same reasons, MANS proposed to exclude the possibility of concluding a plea agreement with defendants for serious crimes of corruption and organized crime. However, such proposal was not supported by the executive and legislative authorities, as well as by the prosecution and the judiciary.
In any case, the statement of the Chief Special Prosecutor that agreements with the defendants will no longer be concluded because they constitute criminal offenses, considering that they will agree more lenient sentence with the prosecutors, imposes an obligation to determine the responsibility of prosecutors and review the legal solutions that gave them room to make agreements with the defendants for high corruption and organized crime.
NGO MANS Legal representative:
Veselin Radulović, lawyer
