Suspects deny murdering editor as trial begins

Four of the accused appeared in court -- the other two are being tried in their absence -- and pleaded not guilty to the charges.

ZAGREB - Four of six men accused of the car bomb slaying of a Croatian journalist probing organised crime pleaded innocence Wednesday as their trial opened under tight security in Zagreb, state news agency Hina said.

Four of the accused appeared in court -- the other two are being tried in their absence -- and pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Ivo Pukanic, the founder and editor-in-chief of Croatian political weekly Nacional known for in-depth reporting on organised crime, was killed together with his marketing director Niko Franjic in the October 2008 bombing.

Pukanic had close ties with top Croatian politicians and leading criminal figures, and prosecutors allege he was killed to put a halt to his series of articles on organised crime in the Balkans.

Police have assigned bodyguards to the prosecutor and judge, Hina said.

The four accused in court are Robert Matanic, Luka Matanic, Amir Mafalani and Slobodan Djurovic.

Of the other accused, one is Bojan Guduric, a Serbian who gave himself up Monday to police in Bosnia and, according to local press reports, has asked to be extradited to Croatia.

The sixth man is Zeljko Milovanovic, also a Serbian, who is in custody in Serbia which does not allow the extradition of its citizens.

Milovanovic is one of three suspects to have been arrested by Serbia over the same case but on a separate indictment.

In October Serbia's special prosecutor for organised crime said the three, "acting within an international criminal group whose members were citizens of Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia, had organised and executed" the murders.

According to the Croatian and Serbian indictment, the gang took "at least 1.5 million euros (2.1 million dollars)" for the killing from Sreten Jocic, a key organised crime member who is among those in custody in Serbia.

Milovanovic, suspected of setting off the bomb which killed Pukanic, is a former member of a special Serbian police unit that has been linked to many crimes in Serbia including the 2003 assassination of reformist prime minister Zoran Djindjic.

During Wednesday's hearing, Matanic said he had lied about Jocic and Djurovic masterminding the bombing as he had been promised that he would be a protected witness.

"I feel pathetic after being let down" by prosecutors, he said.