Montenegro court acquits 13 in retrial over alleged election day plot

PODGORICA (Reuters) - A Montenegro court acquitted 13 people including pro-Russian politicians and two Russian intelligence officers on Friday in a retrial over an alleged 2016 election day plot to topple the government and kill then-prime minister Milo Djukanovic.

The defendants were initially convicted in 2019 and given long prison terms over the alleged plot against the pro-Western Djukanovic, who led the small Adriatic state almost continuously as premier or president for three decades until 2023.

But the verdict was overturned on appeal in 2021 and a retrial was ordered.

"An attempt to commit a criminal offence, an attempt at terrorism, has not been proven" beyond a reasonable doubt, Judge Zoran Radovic of the Montenegro Higher Court ruled on Friday. Prosecutors could now take their case to the Court of Appeals.

All of the accused, including current parliament speaker Andrija Mandic and a former Serbian police general, denied wrongdoing. The Russian intelligence officers were tried in absentia.

Russia has repeatedly dismissed accusations of involvement by its intelligence officers in the alleged plot as absurd, and Serbia's government - which has friendly ties with Moscow - also denied any connection.

Montenegro became independent in 2006 after splitting from its state union with much larger Serbia, that dated to the early 1990s break-up of federal Yugoslavia.

Montenegro joined the NATO military alliance in 2017 and is a candidate for European Union membership. It has also joined international sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine and expelled Russian diplomats for alleged spying.

Djukanovic retired from politics last year and the current government is a coalition of pro-Western and pro-Serb parties.

(Reporting by Stevo Vasiljevic; writing by Aleksandar Vasovic; editing by Mark Heinrich)