Jump to full article: Radio B92 (yu), 2008-06-30
Intro: The trial of an organized cigarette smuggling group continued today at the Special Organized Crime Court in Belgrade.
The members of the network, allegedly led by Stanko Subotić, are charged for having illegally imported cigarettes to Serbia during the 1990s.
There has been no official explanation yet regarding the Russian authorities’ recent rejection of a request to extradite Subotić, held in Moscow since April and released last week, the Ministry of Justice said today. . . .
The trial continued this morning with former Milošević-era Federal Customs chief Mihalj Kertes entering his plea.
Kertes rejected all charges against him and said that "the only correct thing in the entire indictment" was his name.
"The indictment says that I let trucks [loaded with cigarettes] through for three gangs, but it doesn’t say that I took my share. That’s impossible. Why would I allow the trucks to enter the country and not take my share? The prosecutor is trying to make me look like an imbecile . . .
Kertes was indicted for his alleged membership in a criminal gang led by Mirjana Marković, and Marko Milošević – the wife and son of Slobodan Milošević. . . .
The former customs chief also repeated the defense he used at his other trials, saying that "his end began" after he was appointed to the job, and after he managed to suppress smuggling and increase the customs revenues mulitfold in 1994.
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