Podgorica, (MINA) – The Police Administration acted in a timely, synchronized and coordinated manner in the case involving Danilo Mandic, member of Parliament Speaker Andrija Mandic’s security detail, who was named a suspect in a shooting incident, acting Chief of Police Lazar Scepanovic stated.

Scepanovic said this at a hearing before the Parliamentary Security and Defense Committee, initiated by members of the opposition in order to determine the facts and circumstances surrounding the shooting that took place on April 19 in Podgorica, in which two individuals were wounded, and in which Danilo Mandic, Andrija Mandic’s nephew and part of his security team, was involved.

Responding to a question by President of the Democratic Party of Socialists Danijel Zivkovic, Scepanovic said that the police arrived promptly at the scene and found one person who was driving the vehicle, who had an injury and did not cooperate with the police officers. This individual fled the scene and caused a traffic accident.

“The police gathered evidence that unequivocally indicated that a vehicle registered to the Parliament of Montenegro was involved in the incident”, Scepanovic said.

He said that, after a certain time, the injured party started cooperating with the police and pointed unequivocally to D.M. as the perpetrator, after which a local search was launched.

Scepanovic announced that Danilo Mandic is not employed by the Police Administration, stating that he does not know what his legal status within the Parliament is.

When asked by Social Democrat MP Nikola Zirojevic how the criminal offense of attempted murder could be reclassified in the case of Danilo Mandic, Scepanovic replied that so far it has been established that one shot was fired and that a light bodily injury occurred as a result, while a ricochet hit another person who was not in the direct path of the projectile.

When asked how an individual of operational interest can be part of the Parliament Speaker ‘s detail and whether the police officers in charge of securing Mandic responded to the presence of that person, Scepanovic said that Danilo Mandic is a relative of the Speaker and lives in the same household, presenting therefore no risk.

Dane Markovic, MP of the Europe Now Movement, asked whether any political pressure has been exerted on the Police in this case whether, to which Scepanovic replied that there was no pressure on the Police Administration.

Speaking about the murders of members of organized criminal groups, he said that from 2015 to 2020, 97 murders were registered, 43 of which were linked to the actions of the organized crime groups, and of that number, over 26 remained unsolved.

He said that this year there have been ten murders so far, of which nine have been solved.

Lawyer Miroje Jovanovic, who attended the Committee session on behalf of an NGO said that “a politically motivated attack is being constructed from an incident involving one light and allegedly serious injury”.

Scepanovic said that Jovanovic came to the Committee session under false pretense, pretending to be an NGO representative, while in reality as a lawyer seeking to “collect certain data”.

Zivkovic said that a serious precedent was being set by allowing the lawyer of a suspect to present information tied to the so-called “coup d’état” case, acting effectively as Andrija Mandic’s defense attorney.

Lakovic stated that Jovanovic came to the session as an NGO representative and had been advised not to comment on the ongoing proceedings, but that he abused his presence and tried to raise unrelated issued “which he is not allowed to do”.

Supreme State Prosecutor Milorad Markovic was also invited to the session, but informed by a letter the Committee that in accordance with the Law on Parliamentary Oversight in the Field of Security and Defense, the prosecution is not subject to oversight by the Security and Defense Committee.

Zirojevic assessed that Markovic’s behavior towards the Parliament and the Committee was scandalous and inappropriate, to which Lakovic replied that any behavior that relies on legal norms could not be considered scandalous.