October 15, 2021
Speaking before the Court of Appeal in Belgrade – which is tasked with passing judgement on appeals lodged against the first-instance verdict that convicted those accused of the December 2018 arson attack on the house of journalist Milan Jovanović – Deputy Appellate Public Prosecutor Lidija Komlen Nikolić has sought a maximum sentence of eight years for Dragoljub Simonović, the former president of the Belgrade municipality of Grocka and official of the ruling SNS party, who is accused of inciting the crime.
It was in February this year that Simonović was initially sentenced to four years and three months in prison.
The defence lawyers of all three accused (a separate trial is being conducted against a fourth defendant) requested that the defendants either be acquitted or that the verdict be overturned and the case submitted to a retrial.
