ZAGREB MOBSTERS POSTPONED UNTIL OCT 23 ZAGREB, Oct 16 (Hina) - The trial of 18 Zagreb mobsters was postponed until October 23 on Monday after most defence attorneys left the courtroom before the official start of the trial.
ZAGREB, Oct 16 (Hina) - The trial of 18 Zagreb mobsters was
postponed until October 23 on Monday after most defence attorneys
left the courtroom before the official start of the trial. #L#
Before the beginning of the trial at the Zagreb County Prison
gymnasium at Remetinec, the defence attorneys conveyed the stand of
the Bar Association that the trial should be held at the Zagreb
County Court building as the current venue was inappropriate and
reduced the lawfulness of the proceedings. They then asked for a
brief recess in order to harmonise their stands on the matter with
that of the Bar Association.
The president of the panel of judges, Ratko Scekic, said he had
nothing against their doing so but refused to discontinue the
trial. Upon hearing this, most of the defence attorneys left the
courtroom.
Scekic then asked the indictees whose attorneys had left the room
whether they wanted to be given other attorneys. As most of them
refused it, Scekic said that legal preconditions for conducting the
trial no longer existed due to the defenders' departure.
Before the trial was postponed, the panel of judges refused a
request that Vladimir Tlustenko, thirteenth on the indictment, be
tried separately, whereas a decision on the same request for
Miljenko Zaja Krojf, third on the indictment, will be made after an
additional medical assessment by an expert court witness is made.
The decision to try the Zagreb mobsters at the Zagreb County Prison
gymnasium was made in late September by the Zagreb County Court,
which stated that the court building in downtown Zagreb could not
host the trial of so many indictees, after which the prison
gymnasium at Remetinec was redesigned as a courtroom.
(hina) jn rml