An ex-CIA agent told how the prosecutor of Montenegro demanded that he slander the leaders of local Serbs
Former CIA agent Joseph Assad filed an application in the Court of Appeal in which he described how Special Prosecutor Milivoje Katnic forced him to testify against leaders of the Serbian Democratic Front.
Katnic led a fake case of a “coup d’etat”, with the help of which Djukanovic’s regime carried out repressions against the pro-Serbian opposition, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Milivoje Katnich
Former CIA agent Joseph Assad, who was accused of being part of the fake "coup", in turn accused the Special Prosecutor of Montenegro, Milivoj Katnic, of asking him to falsely testify against the leaders of the Democratic Front, Andrija Mandić and Milan Knedević.
In a statement submitted to the Court of Appeal, Assad said he had never met members of opposition political parties in Montenegro and had no contact with Russian citizens.
“I had no knowledge of or involvement in the planning or execution of any alleged coup or any other illegal activity,” Assad wrote. “The Special Prosecutor stated in his testimony that I allegedly met with members of the political opposition, including those who were subsequently charged and who are now appealing their convictions, and Katnich provided my lawyer with a prepared statement and photographs of these people in order to falsely accuse them.
But I have never and will never give evidence leading to false accusations... For this reason, Special Prosecutor Katnic subsequently accused me and threatened me and my family members with criminal prosecution.”
A native of Egypt, a Christian who was persecuted for his religious beliefs, Joseph Assad moved to the United States, where he received an education and began working for the CIA, naively believing that he was thereby participating in the struggle for universal justice.
In 2015, he managed to evacuate dozens of Iraqi Christians from the territory of the Islamic State (banned in Russia). In 2016, after resigning, the operative was hired on his own initiative by the Israeli-British PR specialist Aaron Shaviv, who, in turn, was hired by the pro-Serbian and pro-Russian opposition during the elections.
Shaviv asked Assad to provide him with security due to the unprecedented pressure put on the expert by the Djukanovic regime. Subsequently, this indirect participation in the election campaign allowed the Montenegrin authorities to accuse the American of involvement in a “coup d’etat.”
“Congressional investigators want to know what a former CIA operative was doing in Montenegro last fall during an alleged Russian-led plot against NATO's newest member,” The Wall Street Journal wrote in 2017.
However, no charges were brought against Joseph Assad in the United States.
Let us remind you that recently the court of first instance in Podgorica sentenced Serbian political leaders Andrija Mandic and Milan Knezevic to five years in prison.
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