Serbia Court Annuls Verdict Against Saric for Drug Smuggling

Serbia's Supreme Court of Cassation on Tuesday revoked the final verdict against Darko Saric and other convicts for cocaine smuggling because of procedural oversight, and returned the case to the Court of Appeals. The court did not question the evidence on the basis of which Saric was convicted.

Saric, considered one of the largest drug barons in the Balkans for years, was in 2018 found guilty of smuggling 5.7 tons of cocaine from South America to Europe and jailed for 15 years - after a four-year trial marked by speculation, intrigues and suspicions.

With the decision on Tuesday, the Supreme Court of Cassation adopted an extraordinary legal remedy - a request for protection of legality, which Saric's defence had submitted in December 2020, requesting revocation of the final verdict.

The second-instance verdict was revoked because the Court of Cassation considered that two judges, Milimir Lukic and Bojana Paunovic, were biased and so were not entitled to decide on the verdict, because they had previously decided on the extension of Saric's custody detention.

Milica Vojinovic, a journalist of KRIK investigative media portal who has been following the trial since the beginning, told N1 television that the decision was "scandalous" because it concerned only a formal mistake and not the essence of the case, adding that the president of the Court of Appeals had to know that before deciding on the judges.

"Why is it scandalous? Because there was one formal omission, one mistake that we can definitely single out," Vojinovic said.

Dejan Lazarevic, one of Darko Saric's lawyers, said a new court panel will be formed and a new trial opened, because new judges must be acquainted with the case. He also said Saric should be released...