Podgorica, (MINA) – The Court of Appeal has upheld the verdict of the Bijelo Polje High Court, by which Alija Balijagic was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the murder of Jovan and Milenka Madzgalj in Sokolac near Bijelo Polje in October 2024.

According to the press release from the Appellate Court, the appeal filed by the defendant’s defense attorney was rejected as unfounded and the verdict was upheld. Balijagic was found guilty of aggravated murder and illegal possession and carrying of weapons and explosive materials and sentenced to a single long-term prison term of 40 years.

According to the Appellate Court, the first-instance court had correctly established that the defendant took the victims’ lives in a particularly insidious manner, for which the court provided clear, valid and well-founded reasoning.

The Appellate Court also assessed the first-instance court had correctly concluded that not a single fact related to the defendant’s mental state at the time of the offense calls into question his sanity.