A retrial against seventeen defendants in the Balkan Warrior case is starting. The defendants are accused of production and sale of drugs, and criminal organisation.

Four years ago four of the defendants were convicted, the others were acquitted after certain evidence was excluded. But the higher court has annulled the acquittals by the court of first instance, and increased the sentences of the four convicted defendants. Practically all the evidence has been returned into the judicial file.

Six years ago this May spectacular house searches and arrests have been made, and fours year ago Dragan Tošič and others accused of smuggling two and a half tons of cocaine into Italy in 2008 and 2009, together with notorious Darko Šarič, were acquitted. The decision of the first trial was mainly influenced by the decision of the court to exclude the evidence gathered by the Slovenian and Serbian investigators. After the appeal the higher court has annulled the judgment, and decreed a new one.

The four defendants convicted by a final judgment will return to the dock, as their participation in the criminal organisation remains unclear. All the defendants at the pre-trial hearing months ago denied dealing with cocaine, while the defence still claims the evidence was collected illegally, and has filed a complained to the higher court.

75 hearings have been fixed, however complications and delays should be expected. At the first trial these could be avoided as the defendants were brought to the hearings from the prison, while now most of the defendants are free, and problems could occur should just one of them fail to attend a hearing.