The trial against six indictees accused of the murder of Nacional weekly's co-owner Ivo Pukanic and his associate Niko Franjic continued on Monday before the Zagreb County Court with the testimony given by the owner of a restaurant where three defendants were at a dinner several hours after Pukanic's assassination. A former girlfriend of the defendant Robert Matanic also testified today.
Vedran Rodic, the owner of the restaurant in Zelina, outside Zagreb, confirmed that the three defendants -- Robert Matanic, Luka Matanic and Amir Mafalani -- were at the dinner in his restaurant several hours after the media reported about the murder of Pukanic and Franjic in downtown Zagreb.
He said that cousins Robert and Luka Matanic and Amir Mafalani were frequent guests at his restaurant.
During the dinner, the guests were watching a soccer match on TV which was frequently interrupted by news about the developments following Pukanic's murder.
The witness said that there was nothing unusual in the behaviour of his guests during that night.
He added that Matanic had made dinner reservations for a party of five.
Matanic's ex-girlfriend, Andrijana Stanic, said among other things that Matanic and the key witness in the case, Tomislav Marjanovic, were not in good relations after Marjanovic had sold Matanic's house while the latter was in prison in Serbia. Also, Marjanovic owned some money to Matanic, she said.
The trial resumes on 21 April.
Pukanic and Franjic were killed by a bomb planted in Nacional's parking lot in downtown Zagreb on October 23, 2008.
The Zagreb County Court indicts Robert Matanic, Luka Matanic, Amir Mafalani, Bojan Guduric, Zeljko Milovanovic and Slobodan Djurovic -- for first-degree murder and conspiracy to kill Pukanic. According to the indictment, the group planned to kill another two persons in Zagreb.
A parallel trial is expected to open on Tuesday in Belgrade, with the accused Milovanovic, Milenko Kuzmanovic, and Sreten Jocic, who is believed to have paid 1.5 million euros to have Pukanic killed.
Another two witnesses testified today in Zagreb.
