High-ranking Škaljarski clan member Jovan Mrvaljević shot dead near Nikšić
Jovan Mrvaljević was shot dead in Kapino Polje near Nikšić; police are searching for the attackers.
A high-ranking member of the Škaljarski criminal clan, Jovan Mrvaljević, was shot dead this evening close to Nikšić in Montenegro, local authorities confirmed. The attack happened in the Kapino Polje neighbourhood and police have launched an investigation and are searching for the perpetrators.
“Tonight in Nikšić, at around 20:00, in the Kapino Polje neighbourhood, an as-yet unknown person used a firearm against J. M. from Nikšić, a member of an organized criminal group, who was thereby killed. Officers of the Police Administration – Regional Security Center West, in cooperation with the competent state prosecutor from the Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica, are undertaking all legally prescribed and urgent measures and actions to determine all circumstances and to fully clarify the incident,” the Police Administration said.
Mrvaljević has been described in Montenegrin media as a senior figure in the Škaljarski clan. At the beginning of 2021 he was suspected of being part of a group that allegedly attempted to kill Belgrade crime figures Veljko Belivuk and Marko Miljković in Tivat.
Earlier, Mrvaljević accused members of the former Special Operational Support Team attached to the Police Administration – namely Petar Lazović and Jugoslav Raičević – of mistreating him on the night between 30 and 31 December 2020 after his arrest in Nikšić. Those allegations led to a trial at the Basic Court in Podgorica.
On July 8 (this year) the Basic Court in Podgorica acquitted the suspended officers Lazović and Raičević. Judge Ilija Radulović told the court it had obtained two key pieces of evidence — recordings from the Center for Security in Nikšić and from police premises in the City Mall — and that “it was not possible to determine any injury” on them.
The Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica had filed charges based on multiple pieces of evidence from the "Skaj" application. Police said they continue urgent investigative measures to establish all circumstances of Mrvaljević's killing. An 18-year-old Macedonian is separately reported as suspected in an attempted murder case in Montenegro.
Photo: EPA-EFE/BORIS PEJOVIC
