The murder trial of two-year-old Danka Ilić formally opened at the Higher Court in Negotin after a preparatory hearing held behind closed doors. Defendants Dejan Dragijević and Srđan Janković denied killing the girl, according to their lawyers.¹

The case concerns events on March 26, 2024, in Banjско Polje near Bor. Prosecutors allege that the two men, then employees of the Bor water utility, struck Danka with a company vehicle, placed her in the car and later moved her body after initially leaving it at a dump. The body has never been found. The indictment seeks life sentences.¹

At the hearing, the prosecution maintained its indictment and proposed testimony from witnesses, expert examinations and documentary evidence. The defense said it would present its own evidence, with the defendants, the child’s parents and other witnesses expected to testify during the main hearings, scheduled for November and December.²

Defense lawyer Vanja Živković argued that the forensic record did not establish a direct link. “Of 60 examinations, not one indicated that the defendants’ or Danka’s DNA was present,” she said.² Lawyer Živadin Bogdanović added that more than 500 samples reportedly produced no match and that there was no proof Danka had been inside the utility vehicle.¹

The prosecution’s case also faces questions over earlier statements. The defendants initially confessed to police but later withdrew those accounts, alleging coercion; statements made to police cannot be used as evidence in court, according to a report on the proceedings.³ Searches of dumps, homes and other locations failed to locate the body. The court must now determine whether the remaining evidence can support the indictment despite that unresolved gap.