Are we on the threshold of finding out what happened in the case of Danka Ilić?

As stated in the official announcement, the new court panel, in its changed composition, will be obliged, among other things, to carry out the reconstruction under identical conditions in order to more precisely determine the factual situation, but also to listen to Danka Ilić's mother, I.I., Blic learns.

"By performing a reconstruction of the events according to the testimony of each defendant individually, especially according to the testimony of the mother of the child I.I., who will be re-examined as a witness, all in identical meteorological conditions, time of day and with identical mutual positions of the objects and the parked vehicle in the yard of the house of the damaged I.I. in the Banjsko polje neighborhood and the stopping positions of the official vehicles on the street near the house," states the explanation of the decision of the Court of Appeals in Niš.

The reconstruction will be carried out, according to the decision of the Appellate Court in Niš, based on the evidence collected so far (data from the report of the investigation, sketch of the scene, photo documentation and opinions of experts from certain areas, etc.).

From the Appellate Court in Niš, they pointed out that it is necessary for the non-trial panel, when deciding again, to bear in mind that the factual description of the act in relation to the defendant R.D. "is self-contradictory and legally unsustainable".

"It is stated that this defendant is justifiably suspected of having helped the defendant S.J., a co-perpetrator of the crime - aggravated murder, although the actions of the defendant D.D. are further described - he killed the child, brought the body from the landfill to the house, and with the knowledge of the father, defendant R. moved the body again to an abandoned house), and when both defendants were deprived of their liberty, defendant R. moved the child's body again to another unknown location", it was clarified in the decision of the Court of Appeals.

As stated, bearing in mind the imperative provision from Paragraph 3 of Article 332 of the Criminal Code and Paragraph 5 of Article 333 of the Criminal Code, it is necessary to examine whether in the specific case, with such factual description, there is room for accusations against the defendant R.D.

"Having in mind the above-mentioned provision that the perpetrator will not be punished if he provided assistance to a blood relative after committing a criminal offense or did not report such a relative as having committed a criminal offense," reads the decision of the Appellate Court in Niš.

Three things that the non-trial panel must fulfill

The Appellate Court in Niš stated that, when re-examining the merits of the indictment in question, the non-trial panel in its modified composition is obliged to:

• present clear, sufficient and correct reasons for the existence of justified suspicion regarding the facts that make up the features of the criminal acts charged against the defendants
• specify concrete evidence from which these facts derive
• to quote its assessment from the response to the indictment

"When acting on the objections from this decision, the first-instance court will make a correct and law-based decision on the basis of quantitative (not qualitative evaluation of the evidence, which is within the authority of the trial panel in adversarial proceedings)," concludes the decision of the Appellate Court in Niš.

It is recalled that the indictment examination procedure in the case of Danka Ilić was transferred from the High Court in Zaječar to the High Court in Negotin.

That decision followed after the Appellate Court in Niš stated in its decision that the indictment for the death of Danka Ilić needed to be examined in a changed court composition.

"This means that the judges who were involved in the case in any way - whether it was the ordering of custody, the examination of the indictment, the extension of custody, cannot act in the new examination of the indictment. That is why the High Court in Zaječar requested that a new trial panel be assigned to them, and the Court of Appeal in Niš considered that the case should be moved to the nearest high court in that region. That is exactly the High Court in Negotin," the "Blic" source explained at the time.