02.06.2026. 1:00 p.m
I don’t feel guilty and now if I were in the same position I would do the same, said the former president of the Supreme Court Vesna Medenica today before the panel of the Appellate Court of Montenegro, which decides on appeals against the verdict by which she was sentenced to six months in prison for abuse of office.
Medenica said this in a case related to her actions following an anonymous report by a group of citizens regarding the judge of the Basic Court in Rožaje, Milosav Zekić, against whom criminal proceedings were conducted before the Basic Court in Kotor.
The Prosecution claims that as the then president of the Supreme Court and a member of the Judicial Council, she had to inform the president and members of the Judicial Council about this, because that body decides on the possible temporary removal of a judge from office.
However, she claimed before the Appellate Court that she did not act outside the law, nor that she was obliged to use anonymous reports as a basis for the persecution of judges.
“You can find 300 such anonymous complaints, because I was not a judge hunter, but I wanted the judges to freely form their judicial opinion and use their knowledge to the best of their ability,” said Medenica.
In the continuation of her presentation, she said that she is ready to “endure more than others thought”, but that she does not accept the blame.
“Montenegro remains unanswered, what is the presumption of innocence, and I knew it well and I am happy that my mind has served me for so many years and I am ready to be a victim of those who think that I am a victim for the betterment of my Montenegro,” said Medenica.
She asked the Appellate Court to change the decision of the High Court in Podgorica and release her from responsibility, claiming that the proceedings against her were constructed in order to send a message to the public that she is a criminal.
“The whole procedure was initiated to create an image – my God, Vesna is a multiple criminal. I am not, nor will I ever be,” said Medenica.
The Court of Appeals held a panel session today regarding appeals against the first-instance verdict of the High Court in Podgorica. It was announced from that court that the public will be informed about the council’s decision in a timely manner after it is passed.
Judge reporter Predrag Tabaš said at the session that the factual situation in the case has not changed.
The Special State Prosecutor’s Office complained about the amount of the sentence, judging that the first-instance court valued the mitigating circumstances more than it should have. The Prosecution believes that Medenica did not express remorse, but that she tried to reduce the guilt and shift the responsibility to others.
Medenica replied that she was not shifting responsibility, but that the prosecutor “raised the indictment and identified the perpetrators”.
Recalling the course of the first-instance proceedings, she said that after one testimony, as she claims, “journalists and everyone” expected the prosecution to drop the criminal prosecution.
“When the first main trial was held, after Vuksanovićka’s testimony, both journalists and all of us expected the prosecutor to drop the criminal prosecution. However, the prosecutor asked for a break and went to the former prosecutor, who is the creator of that indictment, for consultations. After that, there were some new proposals and attempts to make some material out of what had disappeared,” said Medenica.
Her defense attorneys, lawyers Zdravko Begović and Zdenko Tomanović, demanded that the Court of Appeal reverse the verdict and acquit Medenica of the charges.
Tomanović, justifying the appeal, said that after the anonymous complaint was received, no one in the chain of institutions reacted, nor was the judge from the Kotor court who acted on the request, nor others who, according to the defense, could have played a role in further proceedings, prosecuted. Instead, the defense attorney argued, criminal proceedings were initiated solely against Medenica.
“You cannot demand that someone who is not in charge react,” Tomanović said.
In the same vein, Medenica claimed that if any judge had come to her while she was in office, she could have been accused of undue influence.
“If any judge had come to me while I was in the position for which I am being persecuted now, I would have had another offense – unlawful influence,” she said.
The reporter judge also read the position of the Supreme State Prosecutor’s Office – that the appeal of the prosecution should be accepted, and the appeals of the defense attorneys should be rejected.
Medenica was sentenced to six months in prison in the repeated proceedings before the High Court in Podgorica. The Court of Appeals had earlier annulled the previous first-instance verdict that imposed the same sentence on her.
According to the indictment, after receiving information from the Basic Court in Kotor that criminal proceedings were being conducted against Zekić, Medenica stated on the inside cover of the file that “until the end of the proceedings” she did not find it necessary to take comprehensive and justified actions, with the note “family feud”, after which the case was archived.
The same case is connected with the proceedings being conducted before the Basic Court in Podgorica against the former secretary of the Judicial Council, Vesna Aćimić. She is accused of abuse of official position and obstruction of evidence, because, according to the accusation, she did not act on the notification of a group of citizens that criminal proceedings were being conducted against Zekić, as well as that later in the proceedings against Medenica, she did not submit the requested original files of that case to the SDT and the High Court.
Aćimić claimed in that procedure that she forwarded the information about Zekić to the then disciplinary prosecutor Muzafer Hadžajlić, but that he did not receive the email.
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