April 18, 2022 - 1:19 AM
PODGORICA, Montenegro (AP) — The former long-serving head of Montenegro's top court has been arrested for allegedly helping cover up her son's drug-smuggling operation, local media in the Balkan country reported on Monday.
Vesna Medenica, who was the head of Montenegro's Supreme Court for 17 years, was arrested late on Sunday at the airport in the capital, Podgorica, according to state TVCG television.
The report said Medenica's son, Milos, has been accused of cigarette and drug smuggling after Europol — the European Union's law enforcement agency — sent transcripts implicating him and also his mother.
TVCG says both Vesna and Milos Medenica have denied the allegations published earlier in the local media. Montenegrin police are yet to issue an official statement.
Montenegro has been told it must deal with widespread crime and corruption in order to move closer to desired EU membership. The small nation of some 620,000 people joined NATO in 2017 and is now seeking to become an EU member state.
The Vijesti daily reported that in February, Europol delivered transcripts of encrypted phone conversations during which Milos Medenica planned drug transfer from Colombia and said his mother would protect him and his partners in the deal.
Medenica headed Montenegro's Supreme Court until 2020. Montenegro is currently in a power vacuum after its pro-Serbian government fell in a no-confidence vote in February and a new one has not been formed yet.
News from © The Associated Press, 2022