Slovenia hands 108 years in prison to Kavač Clan drug traffickers
Fourteen members of the Slovenian branch of the Kavač Clan, the infamous Montenegrin drug cartel, have been found guilty of large-scale drug trafficking and organised crime offences in one of Slovenia's highest-profile criminal trials. Their ringleader was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
The Ljubljana District Court handed a combined 108 years in prison to the defendants, wrapping up a mammoth legal process that began under heavy security in January 2023, CE Report quotes The Slovenia Times.
The group operated the Slovenian affiliate of the Kavač Clan, believed to be one of the most powerful and violent crime syndicates in the Western Balkans.
Three of its members, including the ringleader Klemen Kadivec and his brother Blaž Kadivec, had already received lengthy prison sentences earlier this year for the 2019 murder and attempted murder linked to the theft of €1 million worth of cocaine.
This time Klemen Kadivec was given 15 years along with a €10,000 fine. He has also been ordered to forfeit more than €400,000 in illicitly acquired assets.
His brother was handed a 12-year sentence and a €10,000 fine, and must forfeit €2.2 million in criminal proceeds.
The remaining 12 defendants were handed prison terms ranging from five to nine years, alongside fines of between €2,500 and €25,000.
Massive quantities of trafficked drugs
Prosecutors successfully proved that between 2018 and 2021, the hierarchically structured group procured and distributed massive quantities of narcotics across Europe. The syndicate smuggled over half a tonne of cocaine, two tonnes of cannabis, alongside kilos of heroin and hashish, from countries including the Netherlands and Spain into Slovenia for onward sale.
The court heard that the group reinvested a portion of their illicit profits into purchasing new drug shipments, and attempted to launder the proceeds using Bitcoin transactions to conceal the origin of the funds.
Delivering the ruling, presiding judge Tomaž Bromše said the court's decision rested on highly credible evidence, pointing specifically to testimonies from former gang members turned informants and a vast trove of intercepted communications from the encrypted Sky messaging platform.
Judge Bromše said the defendants had acted deliberately and were fully conscious of the illegality of their operations. "They were also fully aware of the harmful effects that drugs have on human health," he added.
The judge stressed that sentences were highly individualised. The panel weighed mitigating and aggravating factors for each defendant, including their past criminal records, the number of offences committed, and the specific types and quantities of drugs involved.
Verdicts subject to appeal
Following the verdict, the court ordered that the Kadivec brothers be remanded in custody, while bail was set at €200,000 for co-defendant Drejc Kovač.
The case was built heavily on testimony from a former gang member turned police informant, as well as intercepted communications, which detailed drug transports and the division of profits. During closing arguments, defence lawyers had sought acquittals, arguing the evidence was largely circumstantial and built on "fragile foundations."
The sheer scale of the trial, coupled with the security risk, meant proceedings had to be held outside a standard courthouse in a heavily guarded hall at the Ljubljana fairgrounds.
Only one defendant, Drejc Kovač, was present for the reading of the 100-page verdict. The hearing was boycotted by the majority of the accused and several defence attorneys, including those representing the Kadivec brothers.
Verdicts are yet to become final and some of the defence lawyers have already announced appeals.
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