Darko Saric absent as Appeals Court hears his appeal
Appeals against the six-year first-instance sentence will be heard until October 30. Neither Darko nor Dusko Saric attended, and the decision is made in a closed part of the session.
The Court of Appeals in Belgrade opened a session on October 19, 2026, to hear appeals against the first-instance verdict in the case of Darko Saric, who was sentenced to six years in prison for organizing a criminal group to discredit cooperating witness Nebojsa Joksovic. Neither Saric nor his younger brother Dusko Saric came to the session. Defendants are not required to attend, and their lawyers argue the appeals on their behalf.
The session is scheduled for every day from October 19 to 23 and from October 26 to 30. Saric’s defense lawyer Marko Jankovic confirmed the schedule to Tanjug at the end of September.
How does the Appeals Court session work?
The first part is open to the public. The reporting judge reads out the verdict, and then the prosecution and the defense explain their appeals. The judges make their decision in the part of the session that is closed to the public.
The second-instance court has several options. It can change the sentences, overturn the verdict in whole or in part, or uphold it, and it can also take certain evidence itself before deciding.
What did the first-instance verdict establish?
The verdict was handed down on April 14, 2025, by the Special Court in Belgrade, with judge Zoran Sesic presiding over the panel. All defendants were acquitted of planning to murder Joksovic. The judge explained at the time that there was not enough evidence for that charge and that messages from the Sky app could not serve as the only proof. Three defendants were acquitted of all charges.
Speaking about Saric’s time in detention, Judge Sesic said: “Darko Saric has been in detention for 11 years, I do not know if anyone has been held that long.” Saric’s defense lawyer Dalibor Katancevic said after the verdict: “There was no reason for Darko Saric to be held this long.”
The other defendants received the following sentences:
- Dusko Saric, one year in prison
- lawyer Dejan Lazarevic, three and a half years in prison and a seven-year ban on practicing law
- two police officers, three years each, and a third police officer, two and a half years
- two defendants, four years and three months each, and one defendant, four and a half years in prison
- one defendant, three and a half years, a fugitive; one, three years, tried in absentia; and one, one year
The verdict is a first-instance ruling and is not final, and both the prosecution and the defense have appealed.
What awaits Saric beyond this session?
Darko Saric is already serving a final sentence of 14 years for smuggling 5.7 tons of cocaine from South America to Europe. He surrendered in 2014. Two more proceedings are pending against him: one for money laundering, and another for organizing a criminal group together with Veljko Belivuk and Radoje Zvicer. According to the indictment, members of that group killed four people in Greece.
