Draskovic suspects charged

PODGORICA, Tuesday -- Criminal charges were filed today in the Higher Court in Podgorica against Vladimir Japanac of Belgrade, Dusan Spasojevic of Zemun and brothers Ivan and Milan Lovric of Belgrade, the Montenegrin Interior Ministry said in a statement this evening. Two other suspects are believed to be still at large.

The suspects are charged with having committed the criminal offence of terrorism by attempting to assassinate Serbian Renewal Movement President Vuk Draskovic on June 15 in Budva.

According to the statement, after the assassination attempt the accused fled to Jovanovic's apartment in Budva, where the criminal act had been planned. Police allege that Jovanovic, whose apartment was a hundred metres from that of Draskovic, was the organiser of the attempted assassination. The Lovric brothers had been staying in the immediate neighbourhood.

The statement cites as evidence pieces of clothing worn by the gunmen during the attack and surgical gloves and a 7.64 Pietro Beretta pistol with silencer and with the serial number removed, found in the space between the apartments used by Jovanovic and the Lovric brothers. An unlicensed Magnum 357 revolver and a box of ammunition was found in the apartment occupied by the Lovric brothers.

Police have determined that the suspects had visited Budva several times during May and June while Draskovic was in the city, seeking an appropriate occasion to carry out the planned assassination.

The Lovric brothers appeared before a Podgorica court late this afternoon on criminal charges.

The Montenegrin Interior Ministry has asked the Serbian Interior Ministry to find and arrest Jovanovic and Spasojevic and to identify the two unknown suspects from a description.

Source: B92

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