Sreten Jocic told the Belgrade Higher Court on Tuesday he was not guilty for the murder of the co-owner of the Croatian weekly Nacional, Ivo Pukanic, claiming he had nothing to do with it and that he was arrested on the basis of a political and police agreement between Serbia and Croatia.
"I didn't kill Pukanic, I didn't pay for, organise or order his murder. I had no motive," Jocic said at the start of a trial against him, Zeljko Milovanovic and Milenko Kuzmanovic for the murder of Pukanic and his associate Niko Franjic in Zagreb in October 2008.
Presenting his defence after the indictment was read out, Jocic said he was arrested without any piece of evidence, on the basis of a "political and police agreement and Serbia's concession to Croatia", following a Montenegrin-Croatian piece of information that he could endanger the president of Serbia in the interest of the Montenegrin-Croatian-Albanian mob, which he said was a lie.
Jocic said he would never cause damage to Serbia and that for some power wielders in Croatia it was ideal if the Pukanic murder remained unsolved as solving it would "unpack the criminal, police and political past of the region and thwart its criminal future".
Jocic said the investigating judge had no courage to tackle the Pukanic murder and that he refused to interview 70 witnesses from Serbia, Russia, the Netherlands and Germany who could confirm that he had nothing to do with the murder.
Jocic stressed that he did not know any of the other defendants, except his close friend Slobodan Djurovic, one of five accused for the murder who are standing trial in Zagreb.
Before Jocic presented his defence, the panel of judges decided not to try the three defendants separately. The panel made the decision after Milovanovic's counsel disputed the regularity of the proceedings, prompting Jocic's and Kuzmanovic's attorneys to ask for separate trials.
The trial resumes on Wednesday.
