Zeljko Milovanovic, who is being tried in Belgrade together with Sreten Jocic and Milenko Kuzmanovic for the murder of Ivo Pukanic, co-owner of the Croatian Nacional weekly, and his business associate Niko Franjic, on Friday dismissed claims by witness Tomislav Marjanovic that they had planned the murder together.
Questioning Marjanovic, who started testifying via video link from the Zagreb County Court four days ago, Milovanovic - whom the Zagreb County Court recently sentenced to 40 years in prison for this crime - said that Marjanovic was not telling the truth and that the two of them had never met in Croatia.
"You and I met only once, on the territory of Republika Srpska, and we never met again," Milovanovic told Marjanovic.
At the start of his testimony, Marjanovic said that the murder was planned in Zagreb, in the apartment of Robert Matanic's friend Dario Anic, by him (Marjanovic), Robert and Luka Matanic, Amir Mafalani, Zeljko Milovanovic, Bojan Guduric and Milenko Kuzmanovic, as well as that Slobodan Djurovic dropped by several times because he served as a link between them and Jocic.
Earlier in the day, Jocic and Kuzmanovic finished questioning the witness, and the trial was set to resume on 9 February 2011, when Milovanovic is expected to finish the questioning. After that, witness Slobodan Djurovic - one of six men recently convicted in Croatia for the murder of Pukanic and Franjic, is to be questioned.
The prosecutors in Belgrade charge Jocic, Milovanovic and Kuzmanovic with conspiracy to commit murder and with murder.
The three are charged with having made in October 2008, for a reward of no less than EUR 1.5 million and after following Pukanic for some time, an explosive device that was attached to a scooter and parked by Pukanic's car outside the offices of his newspaper in Zagreb.
The Zagreb County Court on November 3 sentenced to imprisonment six men, including Milovanovic, who had been tried in his absence, for the killing of Pukanic and Franjic, who was a collateral victim.
Robert Matanic, who under the indictment had organised the criminal group, was sentenced to 33 years in prison. His cousin Luka Matanic and their common friend Amir Mafalani were each given 16 years in prison for aiding and abetting in the murder.
The direct perpetrator of the crime, Zeljko Milovanovic, charged with detonating the explosive device that killed Pukanic, was sentenced in his absence to 40 years' imprisonment, while Bojan Guduric was given 30 year in prison because he was to have shot at Pukanic in case the explosive device failed to go off.
Djurovic was sentenced to 15 years in prison on the charge that he served as a link between the assassins and Sreten Jocic, who allegedly paid EUR 1.5 million to have Pukanic killed.
