Podgorica, (MINA) - The Appellate Court has overturned the verdict in the double homicide case in Verusa and returned the case to the Podgorica High Court for a retrial.

The Appellate Court stated that deciding on the appeals filed against the verdict of the Special Division of the Podgorica High Court, it accepted the appeals of the Special State Prosecutor’s Office and the defense attorneys of the accused Marko Zekic, Miomir Djukic, Dragan Biletic, Mirceta Mihajlovic, Goran Milasinovic, Branislav Ivanovic and Zlatko Draskovic.

“And in connection with those appeals, and acting ex officio, overturned the verdict and sent the case to the first instance court for a retrial”, the press release says.

The Appellate Court recalls that under the first-instance verdict, Zekic and Djukic were sentenced for the aggravated murder of N.P. and D.P. in the village of Uvac (Verusa) and for the criminal offense of aggravated attempted murder in Berane, to single long-term prison sentences of 40 years each.

“While the accused Mihajlovic was sentenced for the criminal offense of aggravated murder committed to the detriment of N.P. and D.P. in the village of Uvac to a long-term prison term of 30 years”, the press release added.

It is also stated that Milasiinovic, Biletic, Ivanovic and Draskovic were each sentenced to ten years in prison for the criminal offense of aiding and abetting murder.

That Court assessed that in the process of passing the first-instance verdict and in the verdict itself, numerous significant violations of the criminal procedure provisions were committed, as pointed out by the appeals, and identified by the Court acting ex officio.

“For these reasons the judgment could not be examined on its merits, which is why it was necessary to overturn it and return the case for a retrial”, the Court stated.