19. 06. 2004

Court hears Jovanovic witnesses

PODGORICA, June 19, 2004 – The judicial investigation into the murder of Dan editor Dusko Jovanovic has begun with interrogation of his bodyguard and a staff member from the Podgorica daily, media in the Montenegrin capital report. Podgorica High Court investigating magistrate Radomir Ivanovic began the examinations on Friday, hearing about fifty witnesses proposed by the prosecutor in his request for the investigation of Damir Mandic, who is suspected of assisting the escape of the killers. Mandic’s lawyer, Zeljko Jocic, told media that each of the witnesses who has mentioned the car from which Jovanovic was shot saw it from a different angle and none identified the make. He declined to say whether the witnesses had mentioned his client. Jovanovic’s bodyguard, Milorad Mitrovic, told media earlier that Jovanovic had not been shot from the dark blue Golf 3 with tinted windows which was found two days after the murder in a car park, but from another car. Slovenia’s consulate general in Montenegro, whose premises are near the place where Jovanovic was killed, yesterday gave police tapes from a CCTV which monitors the consulate entrance from the terrace of the Celebic building. The tapes are expected to assist in determining the movement of all people and vehicles in the street before, during and for several days after the murder. Montenegrin police believe that Jovanovic was shot from a Golf 3 and the only suspect, an alleged accomplice, is well-known karate champion Damir Mandic. Jovanovic, the director and editor-in-chief of daily Dan, was killed shortly after midnight on May 28 as he left the newspaper’s premises in Podgorica.