MAIN HEARING ENDS IN TRIAL OF 3 ACCUSED OF KILLING SERB RETURNEE

MAIN HEARING ENDS IN TRIAL OF 3 ACCUSED OF KILLING SERB RETURNEE ZADAR, Oct 5 (Hina) - The defence and the prosecution presented their closing arguments at the Zadar County Court on Thursday marking the end of the main hearing in the trial of three Vir residents charged with the brutal early March murder of a Serb returnee from Yugoslavia. Milan Krncevic, Sime Radovic, and Denis Basic from the central Adriatic island of Vir were drunk when on March 1 they forced their way into the house of Pero Budija, the father-in-law of the murdered Nedjeljko Stulic. They kicked at Stulic so badly that he succumbed to injuries in Zadar's general hospital the same night. In his closing arguments, the county's deputy state prosecutor Mate Dorcic said he stuck by his accusation that the murder had been committed in an unusually brutal fashion. The defence, Zadar attorneys Sime Pavlovic and Gordan Nizic, cited mitigating circumstances for their three clients: they had not been prosecuted before, the crime was not preceded by an agreement, they were inebriated. They also seek that third indictee Denis Basic be acquitted as he did not assault Stulic. The Zadar County Court panel of judges, chaired by Milivoj Lasan, announced a verdict for tomorrow. The trial is observed by representatives of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. (hina) ha