Lawyer reveals whether it will be possible to prosecute suspects if Danka Ilic's body is not found

Lawyer Predrag Savic said today that, if the body of 2-year-old girl Danka Ilic, who has been declared murdered, is no found, it will be possible to prosecute the suspects based on the evidence collected so far.

"There are the perpetrators' confessions, their helpers from the immediate family, we have a lot of other evidence regarding the traffic accident, the blood on the car, on the road... It's possible to perform a simple or 3D reconstruction of the traffic accident, which would show that it was not such that it could produce fatal consequences because (the car was moving) at a speed of 20 kilometers. Based on all that evidence, it is very likely that the child was killed in the way that one of the accused admitted to," Savic for Tanjug, referring to the suspect stating that the toddler was first hit by their car and strangled later.

Savic remarked that it would be good for the criminal proceedings to find the body, to perform an autopsy, to conduct forensic medical examination and to scientifically prove the cause-and-effect between the injuries and the death.

According to him, modern technology and all the evidence collected so far allow for the prosecution of the suspects, even if the body is not found. The lawyer also stressed that the quality of the evidence would be much higher, stronger, more credible if the body was found and an autopsy and forensic medical examination performed.

When asked if he personally is in favor of reintroducing the death penalty in Serbia as punishment for the most serious crimes, such as the murder of a 2-year-old, Savic said that as a person and a parent he is, but that as a lawyer he considers it a very difficult, almost impossible mission.

"I regret that in 2002, when the death penalty was abolished, I was in favor of that. I believed at the time that abolishing the death penalty would contribute to the development of human rights and freedoms, that the European Convention would mean a lot for Serbia, that Serbia's presence in the Council of Europe would be much more beneficial for EU integration. I also believed those who analyzed and researched the problem of the death penalty and said that it does not have a general preventive effect," said the lawyer.

Taking into account the European Convention, Serbia's membership in the Council of Europe, as well as other international protocols at the UN level and the fact that most countries in the world have abolished the death penalty, Savic says as a lawyer, he cannot say that reinstating it would be a sustainable and right thing to do.

(Telegraf.rs/Tanjug)