The appearance of the crown witness in the trial against six men accused by the Zagreb County Court for the assassination of the Nacional weekly's co-owner and reporter Ivo Pukanic and his associate Niko Franjic was postponed after the defence tams on Monday objected to enabling the crown witness Tomislav Marjanovic to testify behind the closed doors.
The trial chamber overruled the defence teams' request for Marjanovic testifying with reporters and cameras present in the courtroom. After that defence counsels lodged an appeal with the Supreme Court and Marjanovic is expected to take the witness stand in mid-May after the Supreme Court rules on the matter.
Defence counsels claim that Marjanovic himself had given several interviews in the media revealing his own identity and his story. This removed any reasons for him giving a testimony at the trial behind the closed doors.
The prosecutors, however, insist, that the crown witness's testimony must be confidential under the law on the Office for the Suppression for Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK).
The trial is adjourned until Wednesday when another three witnesses are to testify in this case.
The Zagreb County Court indicts Robert Matanic, Luka Matanic, Amir Mafalani, Bojan Guduric, Zeljko Milovanovic and Slobodan Djurovic -- of first-degree murder and of conspiracy to kill Pukanic. According to the indictment, this criminal enterprise planned to kill another two persons in Zagreb.
A parallel trial is expected to open soon in Belgrade, with the accused Milovanovic, Milenko Kuzmanovic, and Sreten Jocic, who is believed to have paid 1.5 million euros to have Pukanic killed.
Pukanic and Franjic were killed by a bomb planted in Nacional's car park in downtown Zagreb on October 23, 2008.
Witness Marjanovic was in March handed a three-and-half-year prison sentence for having incited a murder in Zagreb in 2006. This verdict is non-final.
