Tito, however, was reluctant to bring him to trial, in spite of condemning evidence which was available. In January 1946 the federal government attempted to solicit his replacement with the Papal Nuncio in Belgrade, a request that was denied. Finally, Stepinac was himself asked to leave the country, which he refused. In September 1946 the Yugoslav authorities indicted Stepinac on multiple counts of war crimes and collaboration with the enemy during wartime. Milovan Đilas, a prominent leader in the Party, stated that Stepinac would never have been brought to trial "had he not continued to oppose the new Communist regime." Stella Alexander suggests that Yugoslav authorities wished to balance the arrest and execution of Serb leader Draža Mihailović by moving against a prominent Croat; and in the words of the Public Prosecutor, "to unmask before the world a concerted conspiracy by the western imperial powers against the new Yugoslavia". Stepinac publicly condemned the new Yugoslav government and its actions during and after World War II, especially for murders of priests by Communist militants. Trial By September of the same year the Yugoslav authorities indicted Stepinac on several counts—collaboration with the occupation forces, relations with the Ustaše regime, having chaplains in the Ustaše army as religious agitators, forced conversions of Serb Orthodox to Catholicism at gunpoint and high treason against the Yugoslav government. Stepinac was arrested on 18 September 1946 and his trial started on 30 September 1946, where he was tried alongside former officials of the Ustaše government including Erih Lisak (sentenced to death) and Ivan Šalić. Altogether there were 19 defendants. The prosecution presented their evidence for the archbishop's collaboration with the Ustaše regime. In relation to these events the prosecution pointed out that even if the archbishop did not explicitly order them, he also did nothing to stop them or punish those within the church who were responsible. The Court appointed two distinguished advocates to defend Stepinac – Dr. Politeo and Dr. Katicic. Stepinac defense acknowledged he paid courtesy calls on Pavelić and other Ustaše leaders as soon as they arrived, but this could be considered normal for the head of the Catholic Church. However, Alexander notes that Stepinac's tone of welcome to Ustaše authorities could have left the clergy in no doubt that they were expected to cooperate with them. Alexander claims his lawyer defended him more convincingly on some other accusations, stating that Stepinac's control over