The daily "Blic" published the news last week that Sreten Jocic, aka Joca Amsterdam, could become a cooperating witness if he tells everything he knows about a series of unsolved murders in Serbia and other countries. Jocić is on trial before the Belgrade District Court for the murder of Goran Marjanović and Jelena Đorđević in 1996, and is under investigation for the murder of Ivo Pukanić and Niko Franić in Zagreb. During the XNUMXs, Jocić was allegedly one of the main liquidators on behalf of the State Security, and it is believed that he is also deeply involved in the transit of cocaine through the Balkans.
Referring to unnamed sources in the Serbian government, "Blic" claims that the police of four countries - Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria and the Netherlands - agreed that Jocić could become a protected witness if he revealed the names of the murderers of General Radovan Stojičić Badža, Inspector Dragan Radišić, police colonels Milorad Vlahović and Dragan Simić, as well as Minister of Defense Pavle Bulatović and Secretary General of the Football Association of Yugoslavia Branko Bulatović.
"The resolution of these murders are not the only conditions that will be raised in the 'negotiations' with Jocic, nor is Serbia the only country that dictates the conditions in the case of Jocic." "Croatia, Bulgaria and the Netherlands are equally interested in the crimes committed in their country, which they believe Jocic can solve," a source from the top Serbian government told Blic. If such an agreement were to be reached, Jocić could expect that his sentence for the committed crimes would be drastically reduced.
Jocic's lawyer Zdenko Tomanovic stated, however, that he knew nothing about the alleged offer to his client, and the Minister of Police Ivica Dacic distanced himself from the claims made in "Blic". Although the statements of lawyers and politicians should, as a rule, be taken with a grain of salt, even at first glance one can see that there is a lot wrong with the mentioned texts.
First of all, the status of a witness-collaborator with the accused is not negotiated by the police (as written in "Blic"), but by the prosecutor, and the final decision is made by the court. And then, for now, Jocić does not meet the basic legal requirement to become a cooperating witness, which is to be accused of an act in the field of organized crime. The murders for which he is currently on trial are considered "ordinary", while the investigation into the murder of Pukanić and Franić, which belongs to organized crime, has not yet come close to an indictment. In addition, the center of the investigation is in Croatia, where the crime took place, so the indictment will be brought only when and if the Croatian and Serbian authorities gather enough evidence against Jocic.
And finally, it is quite unclear why the Bulgarian and Dutch police would be interested in Jocic, if it is known that the Bulgarians arrested him in 2002 in Sofia, and then extradited him to the Netherlands, where he was wanted for escaping from prison, and the Dutch however, after serving his sentence in 2006, he was returned to Serbia. Therefore, both countries had Jocic at their disposal to make settlements with him, so if they did not do it then, it is not clear why they would participate in any agreement that Serbia is making with him now. Croatia might be interested, but it is already cooperating with Serbia in the investigation, according to a protocol that does not include the possibility of a bargain as described by "Blic".
With all this in mind, there remain two possible explanations for the texts published in "Blic". The first is that the journalist invented the whole story, and the editor released it for pure sensationalism. It would not be strange if it were some other newspaper, but "Blic" does not belong to lying tabloids. Therefore, a much more likely explanation is that someone "from the top of the government" really told what "Blic" published, with the intention of sending a message to Jocic's associates, some of whom are in prison and some of whom are at large: you better start telling everything what do you know, because it could happen that Joca overtakes you. It remains to be seen whether the aforementioned will fall for this old police trick.
