Jocić, accused of organizing murder of journalist, acquitted

Jocić, accused of organizing murder of journalist, acquitted

BELGRADE -- The Special Court in Belgrade has acquitted Sreten Jocić of the charge that he organized the murder of Croatian journalist and publisher Ivo Pukanić.

Pukanić's associate Niko Franjić also died when a device planted near Pukanić's car exploded, in October 2008.

Željko Milovanović, accused as the direct perpetrator of the murders, was today sentenced to 40 years in prison, while his helper Milenko Kuzmanović was sent to jail for five years.

As the court found, Jocić's best man Slobodan Đurović made an agreement with an unknown person that Pukanić should be murdered in exchange for EUR 1.5 million. Đurović has been found guilty of this in another trial, conducted in Croatia, and sentenced to 22 years in prison.

Even though acquitted today, Jocić, aka Joca Amsterdam, will remain in jail because he was previously sentenced to 15 years for the murder of Goran Marjanović.

Both the prosecution and the defense can appeal the ruling at the Appellate Court in Belgrade.

Jocić has been protesting his innocence since the beginning of the trial, and denied any connection to the murders of the publisher of the Nacional weekly and his associate. In his closing argument, Jocić urged the court to acquit him of the charges.

In late January, the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime argued that the court should find Jocić guilty and sentence him to 40 years in prison for orchestrating the murder, and the same penalty was sought for Željko Milovanović - a member of his Belgrade team - as the direct perpetrator.

The prosecution believed that Jocić organized the murder of...