Suspended sentences for setting fire to U.S. embassy

Suspended sentences for setting fire to U.S. embassy

All defendants received five to ten months suspended - which they will not have to serve in prison if they refrain from committing a criminal offense during then next two to three years.

Two defendants were acquitted. The accused were acquitted of attacking Croatian and German embassies.

According to the judge, the prosecution did not submit sufficient evidence that the accused assaulted also these embassies, so that part is "absent from the judgment."

Dejan Vuckovic and Nikola Kosanovic have been sentenced to ten months suspended with a term of three years of checks.

Djordje Tomin, Dragan Marinkov, Mladen Nebrigic and Marko Novitovic were sentenced to eight months suspended, Milan Tomas and Filip Backovic received six months suspended each, and Drazenko Nikolic five months months, also suspended, all with a check of two years.

Only Nikolic was sentenced for violent behavior, and all the others for a serious act against general safety.

Dusan Sedlar and Aleksandar Erceg have been released.

The defense counsel for Dusan Sedlar announced that his client will seek multi-million compensation for the damage that has been inflicted to him when he was indicted.

Proceedings against Milan Dubocanin were separated and his sentence will be announced subsequently.

The Prosecutor's Office charged the accused with the criminal offense of causing general danger and in the closing argument said they should be found guilty while the defense rejected the accusations against their clients.

The indictment alleges that the accused on the critical day at about 18:30 came to the U.S. embassy in an organized manner and pelted it with stones, torches and other objects and thus caused a fire in which Zoran Vujovic was killed.

Prior to this, as said in the indictment, they targeted the Croatian embassy and the embassy of Germany, where they caused a small fire.

The Higher Public Prosecution in Belgrade last winter launched a new investigation about who made what omissions during and after the securing of the rally.

The media reported that preliminary investigation was under way against retired generals Stevan Bjelic, a former Belgrade police chief, Borivoje Tesic, who commanded the Gendarmerie, then Chief of the Police Directorate Mladen Kuribak, as well as former top officials of the Belgrade police and the Gendarmerie Slobodan Vukolic, Bojan Markovic and Zoran Raskovic.