Close to 14 years since the beginning of the trial of the nine-member so-called ``Valjevska group'', which was marked by numerous bizarre things, the High Court in Belgrade pronounced the first-instance verdicts.
The first defendant, Milan Lazarević, aka Laza Bombaš, was sentenced to a single sentence of 35 years in prison for aggravated murder and extortion, and Zoran Jeličić received the same sentence.
In one of the longest court proceedings, which began in April 2010, the main hearing was postponed almost 100 times, and extremely unusual situations occurred, such as urination in the courtroom and self-harm by the defendants at the lectern.
The procedure took so long "due to the behavior of the defense" which hindered the work of the court, said the president of the court panel, Svetlana Aleksić, during the explanation of the verdict.
"There were numerous abuses, the defense attorneys and the defendant canceled the power of attorney for the defense attorneys, then the new ones would ask for time to familiarize themselves with the case, they went on unusually long vacations," said the judge.
The hearings were postponed many times, because the presence of the defense is mandatory in these cases, and "30-40 defense attorneys" were changed, the judge added.
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In addition to Lazarević and Jeličić, Milan Milijanović was sentenced to 15 years, Nebojša Goloskoković to 7,5 years, Aleksandar Pavlović and Mirko Lazarević to five years, Dejan Velimirović and Marko Miličković to 4,5 years, while the only one acquitted was Aleksandar Bošković.
Nikola Jovanović, Jeličić's lawyer, announces an appeal against the verdict, which he says is "wrong both factually and legally".
Urinating in the courtroom
In February 2020, the accused Zoran Jeličić defecated in the High Court building in Ustanička Street in Belgrade during the trial.
First, the judge allowed him to go to the toilet, where he stayed for an unusually long time.
When he later asked to leave the trial again, the judge wouldn't let him and he did took off his underwear and urinated in the box for the defendants.
Suicide attempt
It wasn't Jelicic's only outburst.
In November 2019, during the trial, he cut his neck and hand with a piece of scalpel, stating that he wanted to kill himself.
"Because you are protecting Nebojša Joksović (cooperating witness in the proceedings against Darko Šarić) and because you do not allow his name to be mentioned in the courtroom, I want to kill myself," Jeličić said before the court panel, reports Politics.
Jeličić has repeatedly claimed that Joksović is guilty of the murder he is accused of, and Jeličić has the status of an associate witness in the trial against Pljeval businessman Darko Šarić.
Saric has been tried for years in separate proceedings for drug trafficking, money laundering and leading a criminal group.
The first accused, Milan Lazarevic, also tried to commit suicide by hanging in the Central Prison in May of this year, as his lawyer explained, "because of injustice".
Defense attorney Nikola Jovanović recalled then that Lazarevic was on hunger strike, dissatisfied with the court proceedings against him.
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The accused fled
Since his arrest in 2009, Lazarevic spent seven and a half years in custody, after which he was released to defend himself.
However, he found himself in custody again last year, when he left the so-called Special Court during a break in the trial on October 5.
He was arrested in the surroundings of Ub, in the action of the Security Information Agency and the police.
For a year and a half, Zoran Jeličić eluded the judicial authorities as well, since he removed the device for electronic surveillance - a nanogica.
Letters to the president of the court panel
The procedure, which has been going on for almost a decade and a half, was also marked by Jeličić's letters to the president of the judicial panel.
He wrote to judge Svetlana Aleksić "that he will not regret to die, just to let the judge know", as well as to know what kind of underwear he wears.
He also addressed "Politica" by mail, reports the latter list.
This "scandal master", as the tabloids called Jeličić, he was punished before Court of Appeal and for chasing and slapping an ex officio lawyer, because he did not want him to represent him.
Procrastination of the procedure
During this marathon procedure, until November 2019, 241 main hearings were scheduled, and 151 were held, he announced at the time Higher Court in Belgrade.
There were various reasons for the postponement of as many as 93 hearings, due to non-appearance of defense counsel, lawyers' strike, cancellation of powers of attorney given by the accused to the defense counsel, but also due to non-appearance of the accused, as well as justified obstruction of the court.
Many times - as many as 29 hearings were postponed due to requests for exemption that were decided by different judicial bodies.
On the "rare occasions" when the defense attorneys were there, they submitted 400 requests for exemption, said judge Svetlana Aleksić.
It was requested that all three former presidents of the judicial panel be excluded, as well as the entire judicial panel, the president of the court, the deputy president of the court, the deputy prosecutor for organized crime, the prosecutor for organized crime and the Republic Public Prosecutor.
In order to prevent the prolongation of the proceedings, the judges on several occasions fined the defendants and their lawyers precisely because of this.
How did the murder happen?
They were charged with a number of crimes - criminal association, extortion, aggravated murder and illegal possession of weapons and explosive materials, but they were acquitted for organizing a criminal group.
They were arrested after the murder of businessman Željko Đedović (30), who was liquidated in the center of Valjevo on the night between April 3 and 4, 2009.
It is directly for the murder of the boxer Željko Đedović accused Zoran Jeličić, whom Đedović was waiting for in the car. As stated in the verdict, their accomplice in the murder was Milan Milijanović, at that time a member of the Belgrade police.
Milijanović borrowed the official uniform, belt and badge that Jeličić used during the liquidation.
Lazarevic and Đedović had a long-standing conflict, it was explained, and the murder was carried out "in an insidious manner" and out of revenge.
Namely, shortly before the murder, Đedović was released from prison, where he was for incitement to murder The Bomber lies.
Milan Lazarevic, who has been convicted several times, probably acquired the nickname Laza Bombaš during the nineties when he threw a bomb during a confrontation with a Montenegrin clan in Valjevo, and then in Pionirski Park in Belgrade, when a policeman was injured, it was written. Time.
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