Fatal Zakynthos beating case: Two Serbians released on bail

Fatal Zakynthos beating case: Two Serbians released on bail

The two Serbians - whom the daily Blic named as Nenad Jovanovic and Sinisa Petrovic - on Friday arrived home.

Speaking for B92 after arriving in Serbia, Jovanovic said that he was not released pending the outcome of the trial, but was "released."

The 22-year-old said he and the other Serbian who returned home today were recorded by security cameras, but not as participants - "we were in the wrong place at the wrong time."

RTS said earlier in the day that "three Serbians had been released," while "one Greek, one Serb from Bosnia who holds a British passport, and three Serbian citizens" were remanded in custody until the start of the trial.

The fate of another Serbian citizen, who gave his statement on Thursday, will be decided during the day on Friday.

The Greek broadcaster Antenna is reporting that the investigation clarified the motives for the murder were neither nationalistic nor racial - considering that the victim, Bakari Henderson, was an African American.

It has also been reported that the investigative judge could suggest to the prosecutor to seek maximum penalty under the Greek law - life in prison - since the crime has been qualified as planned, i.e., organized homicide.

A total of nine suspects have been detained, seven of them Serbian citizens, for participating in the fight last week on Zakynthos, while it is suspected that at least 15 persons struck the victim, with several of these blows being fatal.

Zora Dobricanin-Nikodinovic, the lawyer for one of the Serbians, said earlier that the brawl did not start "because of a selfie, as has been presented so far."

Instead, she said, the fight broke out because the now late victim threw a full bottle at one of the suspects, Dusan Rankovic, and hit him "in the middle of the forehead."

The lawyer said she learned this from her client, and added:

"The bottle broke from the force of the impact, inflicting several injuries to his face, which caused him to 'lose his senses' - his whole head was covered in blood, and he had a concussion."