Mr. Marijanovic was not present at the trial, since he hadn't been summoned by the court, but his spirit was nevertheless present in the courtroom.(...)
At the start of the trial the Judge reminded Dr Zoran Dindic that he had said during the investigation that he had been sentenced only once (in a political trial) while the records showed that he had been actually sentenced twice. "That is true. In 1974, I took Aristotle's book Metaphysics from a bookstore without paying for it. You know, some prefer books, others wheat," responded Dindic making an allusion to Mr. Marjanovic's wheat exports.
Controversial Report: After that, the Judge informed the accused and their lawyers that a day before the beginning of the trial District Public Prosecutor had supplied the Court with reports (some of them from the Serbian Directorate for Strategic Reserves), which probably refute the claims published in Telegraf. This caused a reaction by the accused and their six lawyers. "We haven't had a chance to examine these reports which had been provided outside the public hearing," said lawyer Strahinja Kastratovic and continued: "It is an unprecedented and shameful that a Public Prosecutor would secretly and outside public hearing seek out and procure evidence whose authenticity we find doubtful. Does the Prosecutor think that we are so naive that we will believe that those reports hadn't been fabricated? These documents have been planted by the Prosecutor and we consider that those documents do not exist and should be returned to the Prosecutor as his personal documents; we believe that the documents have been provided in order to expedite the trial and pass a sentence today or tomorrow or at the latest two weeks from today."
After a short discussion, the Court decided not to exclude the reports from the trial documentation. "Whether the reports will be used as evidence will be determined later," said the Judge.
Symbol: After that, Dr. Dindic spent a long time, almost four hours, speaking about what motivated him to publish the advertisement in Telegraf, supplying the documentation consisting of news reports, and statements by Mr. Marjanovic and other Ministers, as well as various officials and traders, to illustrate the confusion and chaos which followed the export of wheat. The indictment specifies that in the advertisement "it was said that the Prime Minister had bought 1 million tons of wheat for export at the price for $160 per ton, while the price in Romanian port Constanta was $200 per ton, that the Prime Minister had forced the Reserves Directorate to accept Russian gas as a payment for the wheat (Mr. Marjanovic has exclusive rights for the import of gas) at the price which is 50 percent higher than the world market price; hence, without effort, risk or invested capital, only thanks to his position and his political bosses, Mirko Marjanovic earned in one operation $130 million."
Dr. Dindic explained that in the advertisement Mr. Marjanovic was a symbol for the links between Serbian government, companies "Progres" and "Progresgas trejding" and the Republican Directorate for Strategic Reserves. "In the advertisement Mr. Marijanovic was not mentioned as the Prime Minister, but as a symbol of the universal monopoly," said Dr. Dindic and added that "instead of starting an investigation in order to find out what happened with the wheat, the Prosecutor defends the chief monopoly holder, Mr. Marjanovic." All in all, according to Dr. Dindic, various documents and facts clearly point out that Serbian wheat is the subject of speculations, that the data are not correct, that the shortage of flower in Serbia is imminent, that Serbian government Ministers make decisions about the fate of wheat while at the same time they are the directors of largest companies and the have the monopoly because they issue the permits for export and import.
Hence, at the time when the advertisement was published, the shortage of flour was looming over Serbia. Fortunately, "Progres" did not export all 1 million tons of wheat, partly because of the Democratic party advertisement which provoked a heated reaction by the public and panic among the exporters.
It is significant, said Dr. Dindic that some individuals who publicly spoke about the wheat have been dismissed; for example Minister of Agriculture Ivko Donovic, Director of the Republican Directorate for Strategic Reserves Matic and the Governor of the Bank of Yugoslavia, Dragoslav Avramovic...
Anchored Ship: The campaign in government controlled media was especially interesting: Serbian television (RTS), "Politika", "Vecernje Novosti" published identical anonymous articles, obviously by the same author and with the obvious intention to hide and distort the facts, emphasized Dr. Dindic. The advertisement in Telegraf was published to inform the public about the catastrophic situation in Serbia. Every reader of the advertisement must have understood good intentions behind the advertisement, whose purpose was definitively not to slander nor defame Mr. Marjanovic, also said Dr. Dindic at the trial. As a curiosity, Dr. Dindic showed the Court the news item published in papers on January 22, 1996, which stated that the Federal Commerce Inspectors had stopped on the Danube barges with wheat belonging to "Progres" because the exporters, "Progres" (director Mr. Marjanovic), "C Market" and "Investkorp" hadn't paid for the wheat to the Republican Directorate for Strategic Reserves, as had been stipulated in the export contract. Former Governor of the Yugoslav National Bank (NBJ), Dragoslav Avramovic, never received an answer to his many times repeated question: what happened with 1 million tons of wheat, i.e. DM 200 million; NBJ never registered foreign currency inflow resulting form wheat exports.
Dr. Dindic and his lawyers undoubtedly have a difficult task since they have to prove that the statements published in the Democratic Party advertisement are true. However, it is obvious that the Court has received an order "from above" to speed up the trial, as was the case with trial against NIN journalist Vesna Kostic. She was sued by the Prime Minister because she had written that business people estimated that the Prime Minister had at least DM 40 million. Without an indictment or summons to appear at the Court, Ms. Kesic was arrested early in the morning and immediately delivered to the Court, to be given a conditional sentence.
It is also interesting that the District Public Prosecutor yesterday spent a lot of time on the phone. Justice Minister, Republican Public Prosecutor and numerous other officials showed intense interest in the trial developments. It seems that many are afraid that Prime Minister's expectations will not be met which could cause an early dismissal.
The courtroom was full. In the audience we noticed Vesna Pesic [President of Serbian Civic Council, an opposition party], Nikola Milosevic, Parliament deputies from opposition parties and several foreign observers. It is interesting that the Public Prosecutor had no questions. As if the sentence has already been passed. The trial continues [in early September, Dr. Dindic was found guilty and given a suspended two months jail sentence].