On June 22, a new, third trial in the Novič case begun, which will be presided over by Judge Sinja Božičnik after the (self) exclusion of Judge Ana Testen – the judge who convicted Dr. Michel (Massoud) Stephan and arranged that he is not charged with premeditated murder, but only with killing, despite evidence of payment for the murder.
Let us remember. Judge Zvjezdan Radonjić is, in a retrial, in which dr. Milko Novič was acquitted of the murder of dr. Janko Jamnik, already said in the ruling, that “not only is there no evidence that dr. Novič is guilty, but it is completely proven that he is not the perpetrator.” Judge Radonjić also made it very clear, that Jamnik’s murder could be connected to inciting the murder of another leader at the Institute of Chemistry, Dr. Janez Plavec and even named a trio, who had greater motivation for Jamnik’s murder. In the verdict, he explained that the big motive for Jamnik’s murder could have Michel Stephan, who was tried in the same court for inciting the murder of Dr. Plavec.” There is practically no possibility, that the cases would not be connected, that it would not point to the same perpetrators and at the same background,” Judge Radonjić wrote, among other things.
It is also interesting to note, that the editorial board of Demokracija has been persistently trying to obtain the entire written verdict in the Stephan case since November last year, when it was written, but only a four-page verdict was sent to us recently, all blackened, even though it was a public trial. Thus, we are left only with a complaint, which is now being decided by the Information Commissioner.
We wonder, if for the “elimination” of Dr. Plavec, the reason for that was, that Stephan saw him as a key person at the Institute of Chemistry that prevented him from working with the institute. As is known, Plavec was the one who informed Jamnik in the past, about the suspicions of illegal activities of Stephan’s Phosphoenix, in connection with the Institute of Chemistry and Jamnik also continued to drill into the matter, even after Stephan left the institute. After Jamnik’s murder, the matter sank into oblivion for a while, when Stephan intended to revive cooperation with the institute, but he was far from being successful.