China deports suspected hit-and-run driver

China deports suspected hit-and-run driver

BELGRADE -- Marko Milićev, a suspected hit-and-run driver accused of causing an accident in Belgrade in which a 21-year-old man died, has been deported from China.

He is expected to appear before a judge today and plead on the charges raised against him.

Milićev should say where and why he was hiding, after which it will be decided whether the detention order would remain in force.

His detention was ordered on August 19, when an Interpol arrest notice against him was also issued.

The suspect was detained in China on August 29, and since he did not have proper paperwork to stay in that country, its authorities decided to expel him without waiting for a formal request for extradition, which was previously announced by Serbia.

Milićev is charged with committing a grave act against traffic safety, out of negligence, and if found guilty, he could be sentenced to one to eight years in prison.

Another charge concerns the crime of failing to offer assistance to a person injured in an accident, which is punishable by the same penalty.

The accident occurred on July 25 on Branko's Bridge in Belgrade, when the victim, Luka Jovanović, was struck by a car as he was helping friends push a broken down vehicle.

The driver did not stop after the accident, and Jovanović died a day later in the hospital.

Milićev is believed to have first escaped to Turkey and then to Hong Kong and mainland China.