Hearing in the case of the attack on Vučić in Potočari postponed again

The preliminary hearing in the proceedings against two police officers suspected of disclosing information regarding their activities during the visit of then-Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić to Potočari in July 2015, when the Serbian Prime Minister was attacked, was again postponed today at the Higher Court in Belgrade, reports Tanjug, as relayed by the Patria agency.

This hearing was also postponed in May due to the absence of the defense attorney for one of the accused in this case, and today as many as 10 lawyers appeared before the court, as each of the accused engaged five defense attorneys.

Milan Dumanović and Mladen Trbović are charged with disclosing official secrets.

The court only learned of the new attorney engagements today, so it turned out that the hearing was scheduled in a small courtroom where not everyone could sit in the seats designated for the defense.

The defense attorneys refused to sit in the seats designated for the prosecutor, so the trial was postponed until December and will be held in courtroom number 13.

The hearing will be closed to the public, and the accused will be able to briefly state their plea.

After the preliminary hearing, the court will schedule the start of the trial, which the public will be able to attend, although the court may exclude the public if it deems it necessary for the protection of state and official secrets.

In any case, the verdict will be publicly announced upon the conclusion of the trial.

According to the indictment filed by the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office, Dumanović and Trbović are charged with committing the criminal offense of disclosing official secrets as co-perpetrators over an extended period.

Dumanović and Trbović were arrested on December 31, 2016.

After the indictment was filed in early February, they were released from custody to defend themselves from freedom.

They are suspected of stating in interviews for Al Jazeera Balkans on October 11 that, as police officers, they were sent on a secret mission to Potočari on July 11, 2015, without identification or weapons, by verbal order of their superiors, when the attack on the Serbian Prime Minister occurred.