Australia’s longest criminal trial nearly over

Australia’s longest running terrorist attack is finally coming to an end – 44 years, 1 month and 7 days after it began, writes Blanco Miletic.

With Max Bevic, Vik Brajkovic, Tony Zvirotic, Joe Kokotovic, his brother Ilya Kokotovic and Mila Nekić, it seems the circle of justice is finally starting to turn. croatian six.

Throwback to August 30, 2022, decades later their first arrest On 8 February 1979, the NSW Supreme Court, with Justice Justice, directed an inquiry into the six Croatian convictions. robertson wright find it he was “We are pleased that there are many doubts and doubts regarding the piece of evidence in this case and the guilt of the Croatian Six.”

Justice Wright also said that “Yugoslav intelligence [UDBA] Already used [a Bosnian Serb by the name of Vico] Bilkes, as agent’s provocateur or informant, provides false information to NSW police, and possibly ASIO, regarding the existence of a bombing conspiracy involving six Croatians to discredit Australian Croats. .

Now, almost seven months later, the NSW Supreme Court has announced the appointment of judges RA Halm Lead the investigation into the Croatian Six case.

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Hulme Judge was appointed as a NSW Supreme Court Judge in 2009 and has been involved in both defense and prosecution.

Early in his career, Justice Hulme assisted Justice James Wood by covering Ananda Marga Belief in period Royal Commission to the New South Wales PoliceAlso known as the Wood Royal Commission, held from 1995 to 1997.

Ananda Marga case, or Yaguna Three This case was in many ways eerily similar to that of the Croatian Six.

After serving six years in the 1978 Hilton bombing, Yaguna Three They were pardoned after a judicial inquiry questioned the evidence of their primary accuser, a police informant. Richard Seeley.

The most well-known of the three Yagunas are Tim Andersona controversial academic, activist and former senior lecturer at the University of Sydney.

Interestingly, some of the arresting police were the same in both cases and are now widely accepted as Australia’s two most notorious police. misjudgment.

humiliated former detective Roger RogersonHe is one of the police officers who made the arrest.

But the Croatian Six incident deepened distrust.

First, in the Croatian Six scenario, there was no bombing, unlike the Hilton atrocities, and second, the “evidence” looked aggressively cartoonish. A stick of jerignite that had been killed was shown as “evidence” at the trial.

To this day, the trial is notorious as Australia’s longest criminal trial.

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On ABC in 1991 four corners Program, Vilkes was recognized by journalists Chris Masters that he underwent secret training obtained from his membership in Serbia black handworked as a spy in Australia; He lied in court; he was instructed and told by the police what he needed to say. He was doing business with the authorities. And six people from Croatia thought they were innocent.

Nevertheless, on 13 July 1994, the Governor of NSW denied the application for reconsideration.

Regarding police evidence, all six men denied having made confession statements that police attempted to attribute to them, and four of the six claimed to have been severely beaten by police. bottom.

In addition, all but one man involved in the demolition denied possession of explosives or related equipment, claiming that police evidence regarding explosives and equipment had been planted on them, and that Virkez had been killed at the power plant. claimed to have stolen these from

Despite vigorous defense, all six were convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison.

The remaining five living defendants – Miles Nekic, who died last December – have pleaded not guilty to this day.

year 2012, Hamish Macdonald,journalist sydney morning heraldpublish a short e-book, Frameddealt with croatia six case, He then followed this up in his detailed book in 2016, reasonable doubtThis made it clear that the whole incident was a false flag operation, presumably carried out by the UDBA.

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Sebastian de Brennana criminal and human rights lawyer who has worked to see six Croatians acquitted since 2012, Said:

John R. Schindlera professor of national security affairs at the United States Naval War College, said: Croatia Six case It was a “classic” agent provocation operation carried out by the intelligence services of the then communist regime in Belgrade, known as UDBA, against exiled communities opposing the Yugoslav Federation.

He also claimed that a former UDBA official said the Croatian Six incident was “one of their great successes” that completely discredited Australians in Croatia. According to Schindler, the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) would have been aware (or at least should have been) of UDBA’s involvement.

An investigation into the Croatian Six case is expected to begin in late 2023, according to the NSW Supreme Court.

Blanco Miletic A journalist, editor, historian and author, he has written extensively on the Balkan wars and post-Yugoslav politics for the past two decades. You can follow Branko on Twitter @journovox9.