Families of Serb Soldiers Killed Seek Details of Investigation

Janko Jakovlevq and Petar Milovanovovic, fathers of the late Dragan Jakovlevq and Drazen Milovanovovic, said at a Belgrade event today on the 13th anniversary of their deaths that they want Serbian President Aleksandar Vuciq and Prime Minister Ana Brnabiq to meet and update them in connection with the investigation.

“Vucciq promised us the investigation will continue from the late “pika where it is”, but we still don't know what the prosecution is doing,” Janko Jakovlevic told the media.

Petar Milovanovic said Vuciq and Brnabyq should explain at the meeting whether they “will do something or not”.

One of the lawyers for the families of the killed soldiers, Predrag Saviq, already said that Vuciq, who was formerly prime minister, told families at a meeting in December last year that pre-final gloves used for gunpowder residue tests during the shootings were located in the barracks.

Savic said Vuciq told them that “this was done during a military investigation by an officer”.

“We trusted the prime minister and expected something to happen after that, so that the prosecution could file a criminal indictment against unknown people for murder,” said Saviq, N1 TV reported.

Family lawyers claimed Thursday that a special commission established in December 2016 to review the case had held no session so far.

Commenting on the anniversary of the two soldiers' deaths, President Vuciq said the commission had worked “under great political pressure”, without further explaining.

However, he said the commission was now “completely free to work, and that there is full support for reaching detailed and precise conclusions”, Beta news agency reported.

Jakovlevq and Milovanovovic were killed on October 5, 2004, while on guard in Topcider barracks.

After the killings, the Serbian Army and its military court launched an investigation that resulted in a decision one soldier killed the other and then committed suicide.

But another domestic investigation revealed that a third person killed the two soldiers.

Following another independent investigation, families claimed they had received unofficial confirmation that soldiers were killed because former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic, at the time a fugitive from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, was hiding in Topcider barracks.

In October 2014, when he was already in custody, Mladic was questioned for his possible involvement in the murder of two soldiers, but he denied he was hiding in the barracks at the time.

Serbia's Constitutional Court ruled in February 2013 that the state denied families the right to a fair court process because he investigated the case for eight years but filed no charges.

Each family was given 5,000 euros in compensation.

To mark the anniversary of the two soldiers' murder, the group of peace activists “Grath in black” organised a silent memorial meeting in Topcider on Thursday.