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Predrag Koluvija, owner of the company “Jovanjica”, in whose properties 1.6 tons of marijuana were found, presented his defense today in the Special Court of Belgrade and said that he was not the organizer of the criminal group that produced drugs. He spoke in detail about the days after his arrest, when the police searched his property, revealing that the police inspector told him that he knew he produced marijuana for the brother of Serbian President Andrej Vučić and controversial Kosovo businessman Zvonko Veselinović. They forced him to accuse them, so he could get out himself. According to him, the police also showed him photographs of Zoran Babić, former director of the “Serbian Corridor”, and Aleksandar Vulin, current Minister of Police, taken when the two visited his property.
Writes: Stevan Dojčinović, Sara Smolović
Predrag Koluvuja, who is on trial for leading drug production on a plantation near Stara Pazova, today denied the allegations, saying he did not grow marijuana, but industrial hemp, which is allowed.
“I dispute that I was the head of an organized criminal group and that I cultivated marijuana … I dispute everything about this accusation, except for personal data,” Koluvija said.
He claims that his arrest is part of a larger conspiracy against Serbian state security.
“There is the objective of disavowing our security services,” Coluvia said in court.
He says American hemp growers attacked him because it worked against their interests. Coluvia, he claims, worked to unite European producers in order to resist the attempt by the Americans to seize the European market.
“In May 2019, I went to Berlin for a fair.” I found out that an American company was organized … They kept propaganda there, that we (European hemp producers) cannot do anything without them and that it is better than European producers cooperate with them because they will definitely win the market, “Coluvia said. He said that he explained to the producers that they were afraid that the Americans were doing propaganda, adding:” I also think my arrest is related to that. ”
There was a lot of noise in the Koluvija case because politicians visited his property, as he explained in court today. “Politicians, foreign embassies came to me and I think they (the police) just wanted to make an interesting story.”
He repeated several times that he is a believer, that he likes to go to churches and that he is a great patriot.
police badge
According to the testimonies of the policemen who arrested him, Koluvija showed a forged plaque from the Ministry of the Interior and said that he was a “colleague”. He said today that it was, in fact, a badge of the International Police Association (IPA). “(Police inspector) Slobodan Milenković found an IPA ID, which I received as an honorary member.” “It was more of a kidnapping. I asked them why they were arresting me, they didn’t want to tell me,” Koluvija said today. Most interesting about his presentation today were the descriptions of the conversations he had with the police officers after his arrest, in which some of the most important politicians were mentioned.
“I’m Serbian, I go to church, that’s what I miss the most. I’m not Montenegrin or anything like that,” Koluvija said, telling a short story about his family and describing his return to Serbia from Germany, where he was born.
“As soon as I arrived, I kissed the ground. I met my wife, a Serb, and for her I wanted to stay and not, like some of my friends, marry foreign women.” He also says that “he was never interested in money.”
Koluvija described his arrest on November 13 last year, when police stopped on the Belgrade-Nish highway, as a kidnapping.
Andrej, Zvonko and BIA black funds
He said he was joked at the police station about his alleged links to the Police Minister, which he denied.
“The police came and screwed me up. They told me, ‘Call Nebojsa Stefanovic while you can.’ Minister Stefanović and I are not friends,” Koluvija said.
He was then taken to a property where he was received by Inspector Dusan Mitic in the company of Aleksandar Tosic, the head of the BIA in Zvezdara, who was later arrested for links to Koluvia.
“Mitic said there was a big uproar and he should have called Stefanovic. He took my handcuffs off. I explained to them that we produce industrial hemp. […] Then the prosecutor appeared, and they took me to the room furthest from the property, the men’s locker room, so that the prosecutor wouldn’t find me. “
He said he also spoke with several property inspectors.
“They asked me some strange questions about my relationships with politicians, here and abroad. I told them that I was not interested in politicians, that they were dishonest people to me. “
He claims that Inspector Mitic offered him to make a deal, that he could get away with saying he worked for the brother of the Serbian president and a notorious criminal from Kosovo.
“He explained to me that he was in trouble. I only have one chance to get out, and that’s to start working for them and find out who is bigger than me,” says Koluvija. “He told me that he knew he was producing seedlings for Andrej Vučić and Zvonko Veselinović and that he should sign for the prosecutor. “
Coluvia said it did not want to agree to such an agreement. The inspector then showed him photographs of politicians who visited his property, about which KRIK had previously written in detail.
“They showed me a photo of Zoran Babic (former director of ‘Corridor of Serbia’). Said I didn’t know the man before (visiting the property). He showed me a photo of Aleksandar Vulin and asked what Vulin was doing with me. I said we were looking for workers through the labor office, and he was the minister of labor. “
They also asked him, he says, about his connections to the BIA Security Information Agency. KRIK recalls that two BIA agents, three policemen were arrested because of their connections to Coluvia, and a separate procedure is underway against them, and a member of the VOA Military Intelligence Agency is on the run.
“They asked me questions about the BIA: what am I taking from them, to whom did I take money for the black funds. I am ashamed to say what they said.”
During today’s speech, he also mentioned the Secretary of State for the Interior Ministry, Milosav Miličković, when it was revealed that he had a meeting with Koluvija in his cabinet in 2016.
Koluvija said he tried to cooperate with the police through Miličković, who was supposed to control the plants he produces.
“Thanks to that cooperation, I arranged a meeting with Secretary Milickovic. He told me to send him a letter in which I should describe what I want to do. He did not respond to my letter.”
Coluvia did not present his defense until the end of today, and his presentation will continue in the trial scheduled for tomorrow.
More about Colovia read here
