Prosecution calls for maximum penalty in Ibarska trial

The prosecution delivered its closing statement in the Ibarska murder case at the Supreme Court, calling for the maximum sentence to be issued. The prosecution and the litigants’ legal teams called for the maximum sentence of 40 years for the chief accused. Prosecution calls for maximum penalty in Ibarska trial They said that the crime had been premeditated, that it had been ordered by Slobodan Milosevic, and carried out by State Security and the Special Operations Unit (JSO). Next to address the court was Vuk Draskovic, the first time that one of the litigants has made a closing statement. Draskovic, who himself survived the attack, told B92 that everything had been proven, and that the JSO operatives had carried out their orders, for which they had been paid according to the operation’s success. He added that the only thing worse than the crime itself was its glorification. Deputy Public Prosecutor Marija Susnjevic stressed that there was no doubt as “to the length of sentence for murder as, although the death penalty had been threatened at the time of the crime, it has since been abolished, so the only adequate sentence is one of 40 years imprisonment.” Draskovic told the court that Milosevic had wanted to eliminate him as his chief political opponent, and that he had only survived thanks to a miracle. “In 1999, Milosevic had no bigger political opponent than myself and the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO). During all those 10 years, I feared I would be a target. After the NATO bombing, he completely lost control, and decided to have me killed,” recalled the SPO leader. The JSO, he said, had been nothing but “State Security’s battering ram, headed by Radomir Markovic, while at the top of the pyramid was Slobodan Milosevic." According to Draskovic, it was dreadful that there had been a request to free the accused on the grounds that they were political prisoners. The defense counsels claimed that there was no proof that their clients had committed the crime, and called for them to be acquitted. The Ibarska case has entered its eighth year and after three first-instance trials, the Supreme Court, where the main hearing opened on March 3, will deliver its verdict, which will be open to appeal from both sides. The Supreme Court’s verdict is expected to be delivered within five days of the end of the trial. The prior first-instance rulings have been quashed in the meantime, and the case returned to the District Court for re-trials. This is the first time in 35 years, and the second time in the 161 years since the Supreme Court’s foundation, that the highest court in the land has opened a hearing into a criminal case after delivering a first-instance verdict. The Ibarska highway murders took place on October 3, 1999 when SPO officials Veselin Boskovic, Zvonko Osmajlic, Vucko Rakocevic and Dragan Vusurovic were killed in a staged road accident. Under the most recent first-instance ruling, former JSO commander Milorad Ulemek and Nenad Ilic were sentenced to 15 years behind bars. Vuk Draskovic (FoNet, archive)

Prosecution calls for maximum penalty in Ibarska trial

They said that the crime had been premeditated, that it had been ordered by Slobodan Milošević, and carried out by State Security and the Special Operations Unit (JSO). Next to address the court was Vuk Drašković, the first time that one of the litigants has made a closing statement.

Drašković, who himself survived the attack, told B92 that everything had been proven, and that the JSO operatives had carried out their orders, for which they had been paid according to the operation’s success. He added that the only thing worse than the crime itself was its glorification.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Marija Šušnjević stressed that there was no doubt as “to the length of sentence for murder as, although the death penalty had been threatened at the time of the crime, it has since been abolished, so the only adequate sentence is one of 40 years imprisonment.”

Drašković told the court that Milošević had wanted to eliminate him as his chief political opponent, and that he had only survived thanks to a miracle.

“In 1999, Milošević had no bigger political opponent than myself and the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO). During all those 10 years, I feared I would be a target. After the NATO bombing, he completely lost control, and decided to have me killed,” recalled the SPO leader.

The JSO, he said, had been nothing but “State Security’s battering ram, headed by Radomir Marković, while at the top of the pyramid was Slobodan Milošević."

According to Drašković, it was dreadful that there had been a request to free the accused on the grounds that they were political prisoners.

The defense counsels claimed that there was no proof that their clients had committed the crime, and called for them to be acquitted.

The Ibarska case has entered its eighth year and after three first-instance trials, the Supreme Court, where the main hearing opened on March 3, will deliver its verdict, which will be open to appeal from both sides.

The Supreme Court’s verdict is expected to be delivered within five days of the end of the trial. The prior first-instance rulings have been quashed in the meantime, and the case returned to the District Court for re-trials.

This is the first time in 35 years, and the second time in the 161 years since the Supreme Court’s foundation, that the highest court in the land has opened a hearing into a criminal case after delivering a first-instance verdict.

The Ibarska highway murders took place on October 3, 1999 when SPO officials Veselin Bošković, Zvonko Osmajlić, Vučko Rakočević and Dragan Vušurović were killed in a staged road accident.

Under the most recent first-instance ruling, former JSO commander Milorad Ulemek and Nenad Ilić were sentenced to 15 years behind bars.