Prosecution, defense will appeal Đinđić trial verdict

Prosecution, defense will appeal Đinđić trial verdict

“Prosecutor Slobodan Radovanović expected maximum sentences for all involved in the assassination of the prime minister and charged with the same, and will in that sence file an appeal on the Trial Chamber’s verdict,” Zorić said.

Milorad Ulemek’s defense lawyer Slobodan Milivojević said he did not trust Serbian judiciary and would therefore seek justice with the international courts.

“The Court has a right to its own interpretation of presented evidence, but I expect to see the justice at work in the international court in Strasbourg, since Serbia’s judiciary is not the one that passess judgments, rather the public, politicians and media,” he said.

Đinđić family lawyer Srđa Popović told B92 that the assassins received a fair sentence, but the Trial Chamber’s evaluation that the murder of prime minister Zoran Đinđić was political murder directed against the state, came too late.

“The Đinđić murder was an assassination fundamentally conceived as a coup d'état. The murder itself served as a medium for the main criminal offence against the state, which is by no means political in its essence. However, I believe that the trial failed to properly address this aspect of the case, and our public, in my opinion, completely ignored it as well,” Popović said.

He added that the defense of the accused based on denying the charges was desperate, since 10 to 15 days following the murder the details of the plot and murder weapon were laid bare, thus there was no room for mysteries, surprises and shifts during the trial.