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Belgrade’s Higher Court will deliver its first-instance verdict on 20 November in the trial of Ognjen Dabetić, accused of killing 18-year-old transgender woman Noa Milivojev in June 2023. The date was set on 6 November, after the prosecution and defence gave their closing arguments.
Dabetić is charged with aggravated murder committed in a treacherous manner and out of base motives, hatred and intolerance. According to the indictment by Belgrade’s Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office, he killed Milivojev, with whom he had been in a relationship, in a flat he was renting in the city centre on 17 to 18 June 2023, and then tried to conceal her body. It was found on 6 July 2023.
In his closing argument, the prosecutor said the trial had proved that Dabetić committed aggravated murder out of hatred and base motives, and asked the court to sentence him according to the law. He noted that court-appointed experts had found the defendant was not mentally ill and was criminally responsible at the time.
The prosecutor said Dabetić had shown treachery and a complete lack of empathy for the victim, pointing out that he kept messaging her mother after the killing. The prosecution sees no mitigating circumstances and asked for him to remain in custody until he begins serving his sentence.
Dabetić’s lawyer argued that his client had been physically weakened by a car accident, was a long-term amphetamine user and had taken the drug on the day. The defence claims he acted in self-defence rather than committing aggravated murder, and asked for him to be released or moved to house arrest.
Both sides will be able to appeal the first-instance verdict to Belgrade’s Court of Appeal.
The killing of Noa Milivojev shook Serbia’s LGBT+ community and became one of the defining cases of violence against trans people in the country. Gay-serbia.com will report on the verdict.
Source: politika.rs, tanjug.rs. English adaptation: gay-serbia.com.