A new hearing in the trial of Appellate Court Judge Gjoko Ristov was held on Tuesday. Judge Ristov’s father knew about the money hidden in the wall, but did not tell anyone because his children did not know he was hiding 350,000 euros. That was stated by the family’s defense attorney, Aleksandar Varela, who was present during the search.
According to Varela’s testimony, the police officers who found the money took no care regarding where they placed the foil wraps in which it was wrapped. Previously, that had formed the defense’s thesis — that the foils were contaminated with the defendant’s DNA due to the improper handling of that evidence.
The Prosecutor’s Office, on the other hand, claims that that testimony doesn’t have credibility.
The owner of the mobile phone shop where Ristov allegedly took his phone for repairs — a mobile device that the Office failed to find during the investigation — also testified. However, he stated that he had never seen the defendant, nor had he serviced his phone.