The trial of six defendants indicted for conspiracy to assassinate Ivo Pukanic and for the murder of Pukanic's associate Niko Franjic as a collateral victim resumed on Wednesday before the Zagreb County Court with the reviewing of video recordings from cameras in the parking area outside the Nacional weekly's offices where Pukanic and Franjic were killed.
Pukanic, the Nacional magazine's co-owner and journalist, and his business associate Franjic were killed in a blast of an explosion device planted under a scooter parked by Pukanic's car outside the Nacional offices in downtown Zagreb on 23 October 2008. The bomb was activated by a remote control device.
The video recordings show a helmeted man leaving the parking area a few hours before the tragic incident. The prosecutors believe that the helmeted man is Zejko Milovanovic.
According to the indictment, Milovanovic, who will stand trial in Belgrade for this crime, parked his scooter with the bomb by Pukanic's car.
The Zagreb County Court indicts the six defendants -- Robert Matanic, Luka Matanic, Amir Mafalani, Zeljko Milovanovic, Slobodan Djurovic and Bojan Guduric -- 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.
The next hearing in the trial before the Zagreb County Court is scheduled for 29 March.
