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2016 Montenegrin coup attempt allegations

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A coup d'état in the capital of Montenegro, Podgorica was allegedly planned and prepared for 16 October 2016, the day of the parliamentary election, according to Montenegro's special prosecutor.[1] In September 2017, the trial of those indicted in connection with the plot began in the High Court in Podgorica, the indictees including leaders of the Montenegrin opposition and two alleged Russian intelligence agents. Russian government officials denied any involvement.[2][3] In 2019, the Higher Court found the accused guilty of plotting to commit ″terrorist acts″, also of "undermine the constitutional order of Montenegro" and first instance sentenced 13 people. In February 2021, the appellate court annulled the first instance verdict on all counts of the indictment.[4] The acquittals were upheld on appeal in July 2024.[5]

President Milo Đukanović, whose DPS ruled the country for three decades, established a hybrid regime through alleged strongman tactics. Here, he is pictured after signing Montenegro's NATO accession protocol.

Background

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Main articles: 2015–2016 Montenegrin crisis and Montenegro–NATO relations

It is believed that the plot was designed as a last-ditch attempt by the Montenegrin pro-Serbian and pro-Russian opposition to prevent Montenegro's accession to NATO,[6] a move stridently opposed by Russia's government that had issued direct threats to Montenegro concerning such eventuality.[7][8][9][10][11] This theory was re-affirmed by the court verdict handed down in 2019.[12]

Arrests and alleged plot

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16 October 2016 arrests
Planned byMinistry of Interior Affairs
ObjectiveCapture alleged coup conspirators
Date16 October 2016
Executed byLaw enforcement
Outcome20 arrests

On the eve of 16 October 2016, the day of the parliamentary election in Montenegro, a group of 20 Serbian and Montenegrin citizens, including the former head of Serbian Gendarmery Bratislav Dikić, were arrested;[13][14] some of them, along with other persons, including two Russian citizens, were later formally charged by the authorities of Montenegro with an attempted coup d'état. In early November 2016, Montenegro's special prosecutor for organised crime and corruption, Milivoje Katnić, alleged that "a powerful organisation" that comprised about 500 people from Russia, Serbia and Montenegro was behind the coup plot.[15] In February 2017, Montenegrin officials accused the Russian 'state structures' of being behind the attempted coup, which allegedly envisaged an attack on the country's parliament and assassination of prime minister Milo Đukanović.[16][17]

The details about the coup plot were first made public at the end of October 2016 by Serbia's prime minister Aleksandar Vučić, whose public statement on the matter stressed the role of Serbia's law enforcers, especially the Serbian Security Intelligence Agency, in thwarting it.[18][19] The statement was immediately followed by an unscheduled visit to Belgrade by Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of Russia's Security Council.[18]

According to the prime minister Duško Marković′s statements made in February 2017, the government received definitive information about the coup being prepared on 12 October 2016, when a person involved in the plot gave away the fallback scenario of his Russian minders; this information was also corroborated by the security services of NATO member countries, who helped the Montenegrin government to investigate the plot.[20] One of the charged, Predrag Bogićević from Kragujevac, a veteran and leader of the Ravna Gora Movement, said that Saša Sinđelić informed him on a possible attack on Serbs who participated in the October 16th protest. Bogićević, in Serbian detention, said through his lawyer that there was no talks whatsoever on a coup and no mentions of Đukanović.[21]

The Moscow–based Russian Institute for Strategic Studies (RISS), which has close ties to Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), was mentioned by mass media as one of the organisations involved in devising the coup plot; in early November 2017, Russian president Vladimir Putin sacked the RISS director, Leonid P. Reshetnikov, a ranking veteran officer of the SVR.[22][23]

Persons alleged to be involved

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Criminal prosecution, trial, and verdict

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In early June 2017, the High Court in Podgorica confirmed the indictment of 14 people, including two Russians and two pro-Russia Montenegrin opposition leaders, Andrija Mandić and Milan Knežević (the Democratic Front), who had been charged with "preparing a conspiracy against the constitutional order and the security of Montenegro" and an "attempted terrorist act."[26] Officials alleged that the plotters had conspired to take over parliament during the October 2016 parliamentary election, assassinate then-prime minister Milo Đukanović, and install a pro-Russian government in order to halt Montenegro's bid to join NATO.[27][26] According to the prosecution, the relevant orders had been received by Saša Sinđelić, an Austria-born Serbian citizen previously convicted of murder in Croatia and now acting as a witness for the prosecution,[28][29] from Eduard Shishmakov (at first referred to by media as Shirokov),[30][27] who had earlier been expelled from Poland as an exposed officer of the Russian military intelligence.[31][27]

On 6 September 2017, the trial of those indicted began in the High Court in Podgorica, the two Russian nationals, Eduard Shishmakov and Vladimir Popov, being tried in absentia.[32] In a separate case, on 18 October 2017 Milan Knežević was convicted of assaulting a policeman on 17 October 2015 and sentenced to 7 months in prison.[33]

At the end of October 2017, the court heard evidence from Saša Sinđelić,[34][35] who, among other things, reportedly told the court he had learned from Eduard Shishmakov of Ramzan Kadyrov, the Head of the Chechen Republic, being involved in the coup plot.[36] At the end of November 2017, the Russian daily broadsheet Izvestia reported that Andrija Mandić and Milan Knežević had sent a letter to Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, saying Kadyrov had figured in the indictment starting from the previous week and requesting Russia's support.[37][38][36] The defence sought to question the credibility and psychiatric competence of the prosecutor's witness.[39]

In early June 2018, the court in Podgorica heard evidence from Brian Scott, a former CIA operative and the chief executive officer of a U.S. risk-management company Patriot Defense Group: he was questioned by prosecutors about these events. Scott stated that his company, Strategic Risk Management, refused the request due to reports of a connection between Democratic Front and Russian intelligence officers.[40] In July 2018, the Montenegrin prosecutors launched a formal investigation into other's alleged role in the coup plot.[12][41]

On 9 May 2019, the Higher Court in Montenegro found guilty of plotting to commit ″terrorist acts″ and undermine the constitutional order of Montenegro during the 2016 parliamentary election and first instance sentenced 13 people, including the two alleged Russian military intelligence officers, Eduard Shishmakov and Vladimir Popov (to 15 and 12 years in prison, in absentia, respectively), and two opposition leaders, Andrija Mandić and Milan Knežević (five-year jail terms each); Bratislav Dikić was sentenced to eight years in jail.[12][41]

Annulment of the verdict

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On 5 February 2021, the Court of Appeals of Montenegro annulled the first instance verdict on all counts of the indictment. "The Council annulled the first-instance verdict because significant violations of the provisions of the criminal procedure were committed in the procedure of its passing and in the verdict itself, due to which neither factual nor legal conclusions could be accepted in the first-instance verdict, as in the existence of criminal offenses guilty, as well as in relation to the existence of their guilt for the acts", it is stated in the announcement of the appellate court. The "coup d'état" case was returned to the High Court in Podgorica, for a retrial before a completely changed composition. Many saw the decisions of the appellate court as a confirmation of then ruling Democratic Party of Socialists's mounted political process against its political opposition, and proof that the first instance verdict was passed under the pressure of the then DPS-led government in Montenegro.[42]

Retrial

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The Montenegrin Higher Court refused in April 2023 to split the retrial into two, with one involving Mandić, Knežević and Čađenović, and the other with 10 defendants, so secret documents could be presented by the prosecution.[43] Starting in June 2023, it was originally scheduled to continue in October 2023, however the retrial continuation date was moved to February 2024.[44] The court ruled to uphold the acquittals in July 2024.[5]

Aftermath

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See also: Accession of Montenegro to NATO and 2020 Montenegrin parliamentary election

On 28 April 2017, Montenegro's parliament voted 46–0 to join NATO, while the majority of opposition parties kept boycotting parliament sessions and protesters burned NATO flags outside.[27] Tensions between Montenegro and Russia continued to escalate thereafter.[45] In November 2019, the U.S. Department of Defense-authorized, editorially independent newspaper, Stars and Stripes, cited the "hybrid attack during [Montenegrin] elections in 2016" as an explanation why the first NATO counter-hybrid warfare team was being deployed to Montenegro.[46]

In May 2019 the then Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom, Jeremy Hunt, stated: The failed coup attempt against Montenegro in 2016 was one of the most outrageous examples of Russia’s attempts to undermine European democracy. The GRU’s brazen attempt to interfere with Montenegro’s national elections and undermine Montenegro’s application to join NATO is yet another example of destabilising and aggressive Russian behaviour over the last decade.[47]

On 1 September 2020, Montenegrin President Milo Đukanović accused Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Belgrade-based media of interfering in the internal politics of Montenegro, as well of alleged trying to revive a "Greater Serbia policy".[48]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Originally presented as "Eduard Shirokov", by Montenegro's special prosecutor Katnić and his office.
  2. ^ His real name is alleged by Bellingcat and The Insider to be Vladimir Nikolaevich Moiseev[24][25]

References

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  1. ^ Bajrović, Reuf; Garčević, Vesko; Kramer, Richard. "Hanging by a Thread: Russia's Policy of Destabilization in Montenegro" (PDF). Foreign Policy Research Institute.
  2. ^ "Sve o aferi državni udar".
  3. ^ "U Crnoj Gori nastavljeno suđenje za državni udar". Al Jazeera (September 2017).
  4. ^ Ukinuta presuda za 'državni udar' u Crnoj Gori, DPS tvrdi rezultat pritiska na sud, Slobodna Evropa, 5 February 2021
  5. ^ a b Visnjic, Borislav (12 July 2024). "Montenegro Retrial Acquits All Defendants in 'Coup Plot' Case". Balkan Insight. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
  6. ^ "How the use of ethnonationalism backfired in Montenegro". Al-Jazeera. 4 September 2020.
  7. ^ Montenegro finds itself at heart of tensions with Russia as it joins Nato: Alliance that bombed country only 18 years ago welcomes it as 29th member in move that has left its citizens divided The Guardian, 25 May 2017.
  8. ^ В Брюсселе подписан протокол о вступлении Черногории в НАТО Парламентская газета, 19 May 2016.
  9. ^ "Об обращении Государственной Думы Федерального Собрания Российской Федерации "К парламентариям государств - членов Организации Североатлантического договора, Парламентской ассамблеи Организации по безопасности и сотрудничеству в Европе, Народной скупщины Республики Сербии, Скупщины Черногории, Парламентской Ассамблеи Боснии и Герцеговины, Собрания Республики Македонии", Постановление Государственной Думы от 22 июня 2016 года №9407-6 ГД, Обращение Государственной Думы от 22 июня 2016 года №9407-6 ГД". docs.cntd.ru. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  10. ^ John McCain: Russia threat is dead serious. Montenegro coup and murder plot proves it. USA Today, 29 June 2017.
  11. ^ Former Montenegrin PM Says Russia Wants To Destroy EU Radio Liberty, 14 March 2017.
  12. ^ a b c Russians, opposition figures sentenced over role in 2016 Montenegro coup attempt. Reuters, 9 May 2019.
  13. ^ "Slučaj "državni udar" i Đukanovićev "stari recept"".
  14. ^ "Montenegrin prosecutor says Russian nationalists behind alleged coup plot".
  15. ^ Montenegro PM Accuses Opposition Over 'Plot to Kill Him' Balkan Insight, 10 November 2016.
  16. ^ Farmer, Ben (19 February 2017). "Russia plotted to overthrow Montenegro's government by assassinating Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic last year, according to senior Whitehall sources". The Telegraph. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  17. ^ "Kremlin rejects claims Russia had role in Montenegro coup plot". The Guardian. 20 February 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  18. ^ a b Совбезными усилиями: Осложнение российско-сербских отношений потребовало вмешательства Николая Патрушева КоммерсантЪ, 28 October 2016.
  19. ^ "Crnu Goru trese suluda priča o puču, ruskim špijunima, četnicima, Putinu i Vučiću. Naš reporter analizira sve". 27 November 2016. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  20. ^ Q&A: Duško Marković, the Prime Minister Stuck Between Putin and Trump in the Balkans Time, 16 February 2017.
  21. ^ "Predrag Bogićević o puču u Crnoj Gori: Išao da štiti Srbe, ne da ruši režim". www.novosti.rs. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  22. ^ Доброхотов, Роман (2017-03-24). "Кремлевский спрут. Часть 2. Как ГРУ пыталось организовать переворот в Черногории". The Insider (in Russian).
  23. ^ Организаторы переворота в Черногории участвовали в аннексии Крыма – СМИ Корреспондент.net, 21 November 2016.
  24. ^ Investigation Uncovers Second Russian Montenegro Coup Suspect. BalkanInsight, 22 November 2018.
  25. ^ Bellingcat раскрыла имя сотрудника ГРУ, подозреваемого в подготовке госпереворота в Черногории NEWSru, 22 November 2018.
  26. ^ a b Montenegrin Court Confirms Charges Against Alleged Coup Plotters Radio Liberty, 8 June 2017.
  27. ^ a b c d Indictment tells murky Montenegrin coup tale: Trial will hear claims of Russian involvement in plans to assassinate prime minister and stop Balkan country's NATO membership. Politico, 23 May 2017.
  28. ^ "SASLUŠAN SINĐELIĆ: Bezbednjacima otkrio sve nakon što je neko pokušao da ga ubije". www.novosti.rs. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  29. ^ "OPERACIJA DRŽAVNI UDAR: Kako je hladnokrvni ubojica i bjegunac koji je osuđen na 21 godinu zatvora u Crnoj Gori postao svjedok pokajnik". Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  30. ^ Прокурор Черногории подтверил российский след в попытке переворота Radio Liberty, 20 February 2017.
  31. ^ Russia 'linked' to election-day coup plot in Montenegro Sky News, 21 February 2017.
  32. ^ PORTAL, Oslobođenje (6 September 2017). "Oslobođenje - U Podgorici počelo suđenje za pokušaj državnog udara". Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  33. ^ "Milan Knežević osuđen na sedam mjeseci zatvora: Ukoliko ova presuda postane pravosnažna, Knežević više neće moći da bude poslanik u Skupštini Crne Gore". Archived from the original on 2018-12-03. Retrieved 2018-04-03.
  34. ^ U "procesu stoljeća" za pokušaj udara u Podgorici saslušan krunski svjedok HINA, 26 October 2017.
  35. ^ Svjedok Sinđelić: Govorilo se o ubistvu Đukanovića Radio Liberty, 7 October 2017.
  36. ^ a b Chechnya leader accused of involvement in Montenegro coup The Telegraph, 29 November 2017.
  37. ^ Кадырова включили в дело о госперевороте в Черногории: Имя главы Чеченской Республики появилось в обвинительных актах прокуратуры на судебном процессе в Подгорице Izvestia, 29 November 2017.
  38. ^ Lideri DF pisali Lavrovu i traže pomoć: Pominju Kadirova oko "državnog udara": Ruska "Izvestia" objavila je danas da su optuženi ideri crnogorske opozicije Milan Knežević i Andrija Mandić poslali pismo Lavrovu Archived 2018-11-30 at the Wayback Machine, 29 November 2017.
  39. ^ Janković, Srđan (7 November 2017). "Sinđelić: Izdali su nas oni koji su nas angažovali". Radio Slobodna Evropa. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  40. ^ U.S. Executive Testifies In Montenegro Trial Of Attempted Coup Suspects Radio Liberty, 6 June 2018.
  41. ^ a b Montenegro Court Sentences 13 In ‘Coup’ Case. BalkanInsight, 9 May 2019.
  42. ^ Ukinuta presuda za "državni udar": Počinjene bitne povrede odredaba krivičnog postupka, Vijesti, 5 February 2021
  43. ^ "Defence to Offer 'Secret Files' Evidence in Montenegro 'Coup Plot' Retrial". 10 April 2023.
  44. ^ "The trial in the "Coup d'etat" case continues in February". 5 October 2023.
  45. ^ "Montenegro protests after senior politician held while changing planes at a Moscow airport". AP. 29 May 2017. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  46. ^ "First NATO counter-hybrid warfare team to deploy to Montenegro". Stars and Stripes. 8 November 2019. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  47. ^ "Attempted coup in Montenegro in 2016: Foreign Secretary's statement". 9 May 2019.
  48. ^ "Montenegro's President concedes defeat; says Belgrade rivaives Serb nationalism". N1. 1 September 2020. Archived from the original on 8 September 2020.


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