"I didn't commit the crimes I'm charged with," Milovanovic told the War Crimes Chamber of the High Court in Belgrade on Thursday. He is charged with conspiracy to commit murder, illegal possession of firearms and explosives, and document forgery.

Milovanovic said he did not commit the alleged crimes nor was he in any way involved in them, adding that he first met the first defendant Sreten Jocic and Kuzmanovic at this trial and that he had heard of them from the press.

Milovanovic refused to plead to each count of the indictment because he had not seen the case file. Presiding Judge Vladimir Vucinic explained that he had the right to see his file, advising him to address such a request to a court department.

The other accused, Milenko Kuzmanovic, rejected the charges, saying that the indictment was not based of evidence, citing his release in Croatia.

Kuzmanovic was allegedly responsible for organising for the gang safe passage across the border from Croatia to Serbia after Pukanic's assassination. Kuzmanovic added that the indictment did not say how he was to have done it.

According to the indictment, Milovanovic and Kuzmanovic followed Pukanic before his murder. Milovanovic provided a highly explosive remote-controlled device and attached it to a scooter which he later parked next to Pukanic's car in Nacional's car park in central Zagreb.

Kuzmanovic was arrested in Croatia in October 2008 on the suspicion that he had brought from Serbia the explosive that was used in the attack on Pukanic and that after the murder he was to help the cousins Robert and Luka Matanic, suspects from the same group, escape Croatia. After 55 days in custody, Kuzmanovic was released in late December 2008 for lack of evidence.

Jocic was arrested in Belgrade towards the end of April 2009 and has been in custody since. Milovanovic, one of the two accused who is believed to have directly participated in the assassination, was arrested in Belgrade on May 31, 2009, while Kuzmanovic was arrested the day before, also in Belgrade.