ZAGREB, April 27, 2018 - In a retrial before the Zadar County Court, Šibenik fire chief Dražen Slavica was acquitted for a second time pending appeal on charges of being responsible for a tragedy that occurred on the Kornati islands in 2007, in which 13 firemen, sent to the island to put out a wildfire, were killed.
No evidence was provided to prove that Slavica committed the crime he is charged with, presiding judge Boris Radman said.
Slavica was the only person to be indicted for the death of the 13 firefighters. One firefighter, Frane Lučić, was the only survivor.
Slavica was acquitted pending appeal in 2013 but the Supreme Court in 2016 quashed the verdict due to a formal omission, ordering a retrial.
New witnesses were heard at the retrial and a new reconstruction of the accident was conducted by experts from the Zagreb-based Ruđer Bošković Institute showing that the firemen were killed by a flare-up.
