the presence of their lawyers. This major procedural error meant that there were no legal witnesses of executions. There was testimony from witnesses who saw Rimac kill Mihajlo Zec. Others testified Mikola had confessed to the killing. Police expertise at the time proved that the weapons seized from the accused were identical to those used to commit the murders. A forensic examination of the perpetrators' van proved it was used to transport Aleksandra and Marija Zec. The County Court in Zagreb did not take any of this into account and rendered a verdict of not guilty. On 19 February 1992, the Supreme Court of Croatia reviewed and remanded the case. On 9 July 1992, the County Court in Zagreb again rendered a not-guilty verdict. The Croatian judicial system was criticized for this. Most legal experts argued the verdict was far-fetched and included a highly dubious interpretation of legal provisions, due to strong political pressure exerted on the court. Aftermath After their release, Suljić and Hodak maintained criminal lifestyles that were extensively covered in local newspapers. Rimac became a bodyguard of the Minister of Defence Gojko Šušak and progressed to a high rank in the Croatian Army. Mikola escaped the limelight by moving to Herzegovina, while Snježana Živković successfully evaded all punishment. On 30 May 1995, Rimac received the Order of Nikola Šubić Zrinski in recognition of "war-time heroism", awarded by Franjo Tuđman. According to the Croatian weekly magazine Nacional, the protections were extended by Tuđman himself. In 1992, Stjepan Mesić allegedly requested from Tuđman that the case to be resolved as soon as possible, but Tuđman replied: "Let it be, maybe I will still need those guys". Journalist Davor Butković stated that Vladimir Šeks, who at the time of the original trial was a public prosecutor of Republic of Croatia, stated he was saddened by the Zec case, and felt guilty that the killers were not punished. In 2004, Šeks told Berislav Jelinić of Nacional that he was saddened by the case but bore no responsibility. In 2005, Rimac, Suljić and Mikola were convicted of the murder of Aleksandar "Saša" Antić in the "Pakračka poljana" case, where the same unit committed numerous war crimes against Serbs (such as the Zec family) as well as certain Croatians who had fallen into disfavor and taken prisoner, including Antić and Marina Nuić in 1991. The exact reasons for the murders of Antić, Nuić,