SARAJEVO, Bosnia (October 31,2007) - The trial before the Bosnian state Court of Serbian war criminal Milorad Trbic, indicted for genocide committed against the Bosnian civilians in the Srebrenica region,during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia, will begin on Thursday, November 8, 2007. At this hearing, the Bosnian State Prosecutor will read the indictment and present its introductory arguments.
"Before we start with examination of the first witnesses, another brief status conference will be held on November 26," Trial Chamber Chairman Davorin Jukic said.
The Bosnian State Prosecutor charges Serbian war criminal Milorad Trbic with having participated, as member of the genocidal paramilitary formations of the Serbians living in Bosnia (VRS), in genocide against Bosnians in the UN protected enclave of the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica in July 1995.
According to the indictment, which was originally filed in The Hague and then admitted in Sarajevo, Serbian war criminal Milorad Trbic together with other members of the genocidal serbian aggressor's formations, "participated in the mass murder of more than 7,000 Bosnian civilians" at the stadium in the eastern Bosnian town of Bratunac on July 13, 1995 and in the courtyard of the school in Grbavci on July 14.
In addition, Serbian war criminal Milorad Trbic is charged with having enabled, coordinated and participated in the communication between the genocidal paramilitary forces of the Serbians living in Bosnia (VRS) who conducted the arrests, detention, transport, murder and burial of the Bosnian civilians from the Srebrenica region,during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.He also enabled monitoring of the re-burial of the remains of the genocide victims exhumed from the primary mass graves undertaken in the period from August 1 to November 1, 1995.
The Bosnian State Prosecutor has recommended that 127 witnesses, including some who have already testified in The Hague, be invited.
"We would like to examine a total of 54 witnesses. We have also got the statements that the remaining 76 witnesses gave before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). We intend to present 500 pieces of material evidence, or 1,000 pieces in the two languages,"
said the Bosnian State Prosecutor Kwai Hong Ip.
Ip reiterated that 20 Prosecution witnesses could be considered as the "key witnesses". It is planned that the direct examination of some witnesses may last for up to five hours.
"We may decide to give up the examination of some witnesses, if the Trial Chamber decides to admit their statements given before the ICTY and the facts determined in the course of some other trials," Ip said.
Defence attorney Milan Trbojevic was not able to comment on the prosecution's proposals because, as he said, he was in an "awkward position".
"I have not seen the documents. I ran through the indictment and, therefore, I cannot pronounce upon the Prosecution's suggestions," said Trbojevic, who replaced attorney Borislav Jamina.
At the status conference, the Trial Chamber itself was not able to pronounce upon the Prosecution's proposal to admit ICTY records and the facts determined by the tribunal's verdicts, because "the prosecution has still not submitted its proposals".
The public was excluded from the status conference during a discussion on the eventual introduction of protection measures for Prosecution witnesses.
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