V DETENTION, GUARANTEE AND PASSPORT
During the investigation the Prosecution declined all our evidence proposals although it is obliged by the law to examine everything that someone is charged with and everything that is in his favour.
I presented all this to the Prosecution almost one year ago. What has the Prosecution done since then?
- The witnesses who are listed as the Prosecution witnesses have been interrogated and all of them claim that there were no unlawful activities.
- The criminal charges were just copied and converted into the Indictment.
But this was not enough either. I was unlawfully detained for 7,5 months and that unlawful matter was confirmed by the Constitutional Court as well.
The question arises whether I should be held responsible for the alleged abuse or perhaps the Prosecution is responsible because it obviously violates the law.
I must ask you this: what about the presumption of innocence? According to Blackstone’s formulation, “It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer”. What about the basic principle that the prosecutor bears the burden of proving? Here all that has been forgotten and I as a defendant must prove my innocence.
I am asking the court to state publicly that the presumption of innocence refers to me as well because I have already been convicted in public even before the beginning of the procedure. I have been deprived of my fundamental rights; I have been prevented from doing my job. If the court does not want to do so or cannot do it for procedural reasons, I am giving the order to my lawyers to sue the state because of violating the presumption of innocence.
I do not know what you both as lawyers and ordinary people think about the ruling of the Constitutional Court which decided that I had been unlawfully detained. Does anyone at least feel any guilt because of that?
You took 12 million euros in cash as the guarantee from me, and there is not a single example like that. This measure must also be examined by my lawyers in order to see whether it is in compliance with positive law.
You have taken away my passport and prevented me from travelling abroad, and you very well know that I do not travel as a tourist. You have prevented me from doing my job, negotiating new projects and thus you have practically tied my hands. By doing so, you are not only threatening me personally but also one of the best Serbian companies and 8.000 families living directly off Delta.
So, you requested the guarantee of 12 million euros in cash and took away my passport at the same time. As if one of these two measures was insufficient so you had to apply both.
I cannot stop you from conducting this procedure which is utterly illogical to me, but I can and must appeal to you not to destroy the company which feeds thousands of people and which paid the taxes of 73 million euros to the budget of Serbia state only in the first 9 months of this year and 1,8 billion euros in the past 10 years. Don’t cause problems to this outstanding company which has difficulty taking out loans from the banks due to your irresponsible policy and the fact that you have incriminated it.
Despite all the aggravating circumstances, I would like to inform you that by 15th December Delta will have opened the biggest and most modern hotel in the Balkans which will employ 300 people. I am inviting you to see what we have given Serbia and Belgrade in the year in which we were the target of the campaign, public lynching and court prosecution. I also promise to employ 500 more people in 2014, that we will develop regionally despite the individuals wishing to prevent us from that.
I was arrested either due to the great ignorance on the part of the police and the Prosecution or due to someone’s ill intention. I was detained because the court ignored that while the Constitutional Court ruled that it was against the law.
During my detention my granddaughter was born – my son’s firstborn. My mother died. And all that time I had to keep silent because my son was arrested. Can you tell me which normal parent can defend from liberty while his own son is sitting next to him in the dock?
Today I am asking you only to observe the Law and the Constitution in this court procedure because this is a case which will enter the history of the Serbian judicial system. Today the trial is not against Miroslav Mišković and these people. Today the normal market principles of operating are on trial. And I was chosen to be the defendant not because I have done something unlawful but because I am the most outstanding representative of those who are successful and who create.
