The Special Prosecution in Podgorica. Photo: tuzilasto.me.

The high-profile coup plot trial in Podgorica on Tuesday heard testimony from US security company executive Brian Scott, an ex-CIA operative who the prosecution claims offered to evacuate opposition politicians and protesters from parliament during a violent overthrow of the government that was allegedly planned for October 2016.

According to the Montenegrin prosecution, Scott, an executive at the US-based private security company Strategic Risk Management, was approached in 2016 through a chain of individuals connected to the pro-Russian opposition Democratic Front party.

He was allegedly asked to provide services including “counter-surveillance and evacuation” during what the Montenegrin prosecution claims was an attempt to kill then Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic.

Addressing the court via a video link from Orlando, Florida, where his company is based, Scott said he had nothing to with any alleged coup plans in Montenegro in October 2016 or knowledge of any alleged crimes in the tiny Adriatic country.

Scott said that why his company did not want get to involved in Montenegro for two reasons, the first being that one of its associates had connections “with the highest levels of power in Montenegro and with the party in power”.

Another reason for not getting involved was the Democratic Front’s “alleged relationship with the Russian intelligence service”, he added.

He also said that the company was not asked to conduct any evacuation from the Montenegrin parliament.

Numerous theories are still circulating about what happened on October 16, 2016 on election day in Montenegro when 20 mostly Serbian citizens were arrested on terrorism charges.

Supporters of the official version of the coup plot theory say the evidence supports claims about a Russian-backed scheme to overthrow the government and prevent the country from joining NATO.

The suggestion that the assassination of Djukanovic was planned and that the Russian intelligence officers who were allegedly involved had inside support from the opposition Democratic Front has been debated heatedly on social media over the past year and a half.

Some believe the coup plot was a fake, organised by circles around Djukanovic to secure his party another election victory.

The special prosecution’s indictment cites a statement attributed to Scott, in which he allegedly said that in 2017 he was approached through a chain of individuals, on behalf of a “Canadian-Israeli political adviser” to the Democratic Front, to provide security services.

The job was supposed to include a “counter-surveillance, as well as evacuation and planning of extraction of manpower” sometime after October 6, 2016.

In June 2017, the Wall Street Journal reported that US congressional investigators wanted to know what another ex-CIA operative, Joseph Assad, was doing in Montenegro on October 2016 at the time of the alleged Russian-backed coup plot.

The Wall Street Journal article linked Assad and Scott.

Montenegrin media claimed that Assad was the middleman planning to hire Scott for the security job in Montenegro.

According to the Wall Street Journal report, Assad’s trip to Montenegro ahead of the alleged coup attempt was the focus of a US congressional inquiry.

Prosecutors in Montenegro are also investigating whether Assad — a US citizen born and raised in Egypt — was hired to help the 20 suspects accused of masterminding the alleged coup, in addition to advising on an escape plan for members of the pro-Russia opposition.

But Scott testified to the court on Tuesday that Assad never talked to him or any company officials about anything related to security in Montenegro.

He said that he and Assad only spoke as two professionals dealing with corporate security.

“Then he mentioned that he had an engagement in Montenegro related to security services… but I told him that our company is not ready to work on it,” Scott said.

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