Supreme Court: Conviction of murderer Dragan Paravinja overturned

The Supreme Court overturned the verdict of the County Court in Šibenik against Dragan Paravinja, according to which he was confirmed a sentence of 40 years in prison for aggravated murder and attempted rape of minor Antonija Bilić from Kričake in a retrial, HRT reports, as stated by the Patria News Agency.

Dragan Paravinja's lawyer, Ankica Giljanović, announced in March that she would file an appeal. At the time, she said she would appeal because she believed the County Court had not found any new evidence compared to the annulled trial, yet it had delivered the same verdict.

As a reminder, the key evidence against Paravinja included surveillance camera footage reconstructing his movements on the day of the crime, as well as traces of the victim's blood and saliva found in Paravinja's truck, as explained in the non-final verdict.

A hair belonging to Antonija Bilić was also discovered on a blanket found on the truck's bed, and traces of Dragan Paravinja's sperm were found, HRT writes.