Although star witness Tomislav Marjanovic was the last proposed witness interrogated in a trial for the murder of Croatian journalist Ivo Pukanic, several new witnesses will be called to confirm the veracity of his deposition, according to a defence motion upheld by the Zagreb County Court on Wednesday.
According to the prosecution, Marjanovic took part in preparations for the murder of Pukanic, co-owner of Nacional weekly, in Zagreb in October 2008, but subsequently plea-bargained with USKOK, the national office fighting organised crime, and decided to testify against the defendants.
Marjanovic accused Robert and Luka Matanic, Amir Mafalani, Zeljko Milovanovic, Bojan Guduric and Slobodan Djurovic of conspiracy to kill Pukanic and two other persons in Zagreb.
Given media allegations that the other two were to have been controversial businessman Hrvoje Petrac and his son Novica, the defence requested prison records to establish when the two men were in prison and when on leave. The panel of judges approved the request.
The panel turned down motions to question former Croatian Justice Minister Vesna Skare-Ozbolt and retired Croatian army general Vladimir Zagorec, whom Robert Matanic pointed out as the person who might have ordered the Pukanic murder.
Also turned down was a defence motion to request from the Netherlands information on persons contacted by Sreten Jocic while he was in prison. Jocic allegedly paid via his close friend Djurovic EUR 1.5 million for Pukanic's murder.
The court will decide at a later date about questioning Robert Matanic's former lawyer Zoran Pilipovic and Stanko Subotic who, according to the testimony of Montenegrin entrepreneur Ratko Knezevic, could have been behind the Pukanic murder together with Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic.
The trial resumes on Monday with the testimony of Josipa Maric, a former girlfriend of Robert Matanic who, according to Marjanovic, took Jocic's money to Matanic while he was in prison in Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia.
