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Former mayor of Zrenjanin Goran Knežević has been released from custody and he will be free while he continues to prepare his defense.
The former head of the Vojvodina town, elected on the Democratic Party (DS) ticket, was arrested last year in an organized crime swoop, on an indictment accusing him of fraud and embezzlement related to local building land.
The case has become known in the media as "the Construction Mafia".
The second-accused Ivan Dević was also released today.
Judge Maja Kovačević, who presides over the trial chamber, explained that "there were no longer any legal reasons to keep them detained".
The trial of Knežević and a group of 20 other defendants starter October 26 at the Special Organized Department of the Belgrade District Court.
The other accused have not been held in jail pending the end of the trial.
Knežević addressed the judges to plead for his release by saying that "it is his life interest" to defend himself and prove that the accusations against him were false".
"I’m an innocent man and the statements of all the accused speak in favor of that," said he.
"I did what any other successful mayor would do. I’m a family man, a father of four. I ask of you to let me prepare my defense in the circle of my family and clear my name."
The defendants today finished entering their "not guilty" pleas on the indictment against them, and the presenting of evidence is set to begin on December 8.
The group is accused of committing illegal acts that robbed the town budget of RSD 150mn. |
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