Sreten Jocic, also known as Joca Amsterdam, will not testify before the Zagreb County Court in the trial for the October 2008 assassination of Croatian journalist Ivo Pukanic, which he allegedly ordered, but the court will request from Dutch authorities reports on their investigation of Jocic and his close friend, Slobodan Djurovic.
The Dutch authorities have secretly monitored the activities of Jocic and Djurovic on the suspicion that they founded a criminal organisation in the Netherlands, and documents from their investigation have been requested by the Croatian office for the prevention of corruption and organised crime USKOK.
USKOK needs the documents to substantiate the testimonies of the key witness, Tomislav Marjanovic, and Montenegrin businessman Ratko Knezevic, who have described Jocic and Djurovic as persons closely associated with the criminal underworld.
Jocic is in custody in Belgrade awaiting trial on charges of ordering Pukanic's murder. He allegedly paid 1.5 million euros for it.
Due to his Belgrade trial, the Zagreb County Court on Wednesday rejected the defence motion that Jocic should testify in Zagreb as well.
