Belivuk, Miljkovic Trial Postponed Until October 5

The trial of members of Veljko Belivuk’s criminal group, scheduled for Monday, September 14, before Belgrade’s Special Court, did not take place. The presiding judge said the hearing was postponed because one member of the panel was unable to attend. The next hearing is set for October 5.

According to Kurir, the court also sent a notice to the detention unit rescheduling the proceedings for October 7 and 8 as well. Tanjug’s report does not mention that detail, citing only the October 5 date.

The defendants held in custody were not brought into the courtroom today. Kurir reports that Belivuk and Marko Miljkovic were not transported out of the Central Prison, so as to avoid the additional cost of transport, since defendants in custody are normally driven to court in a convoy of prison vans escorted by armed Gendarmerie officers. The defendants on trial while free, according to both outlets, did appear in court today.

What the Group Is Charged With

The indictment against Belivuk, Miljkovic and their co-defendants charges the group with seven murders, drug and weapons trafficking, and the rape of a young man on the premises of the FK Partizan stadium. The prosecution has already finished presenting its evidence.

At a hearing in July, at the defense’s request, the court screened crime scene footage from a house in Ritopek where, according to the indictment, a hidden room was used to torture and kill victims. The entrance to the room was concealed behind a shelf that slid within the garage wall. Reaching the room meant moving the shelf, opening a passage that stayed unnoticed, and crossing a gap before finally stepping inside. The room was only discovered two and a half months after members of the group were arrested, on February 4, 2021.

Sky Messages and Cooperating Witnesses

Among the prosecution’s key evidence are Sky ECC messages and the testimony of three former members of the group, Srdjan Lalic, Nikola Spasojevic and Bojan Hrvatin, who reached plea deals with the prosecution and became cooperating witnesses.

At the July hearing, Lalic reiterated that the Sky messages are authentic, and said he remembers the messages about drug smuggling he exchanged with the fugitive leader of the Kavac clan, Radoje Zvicer. Zvicer is not among the defendants in this case.

I recognized the pins and the communications, I remember well the ones tied to the crimes. The communications are authentic. There’s one where Zvicer and I arrange truck shipments, exchange photos. There’s one where Miljkovic said, “Brother, I’m going crazy here, all I do is stare at corpses,” and he did say that, because he was staring at corpses.

That is what Lalic told the court at the time, drawing a line between the Sky pin names and the people behind them. Defendant Miljkovic responded to his claims.

I never said anything like that, I never uttered anything like that. I did think it about the three of them, because they look like corpses to me, but I never said it out loud.

According to Kurir’s report, Miljkovic was referring to Lalic as well as to cooperating witnesses Hrvatin and Spasojevic, who is also his best man.

What Comes Next

The next hearing is scheduled for October 5. Kurir also reports that the court notified the detention unit of additional dates, October 7 and 8, a detail Tanjug’s report on the postponement does not mention.

Until then, Belivuk and Miljkovic remain in custody, where, according to the prosecution, they have already spent five and a half years as organizers of the criminal group. Of all the defendants in this case, they are the only ones who have not so far asked for their detention to be replaced with a lighter measure.