HAGUE INDICTEES TO TESTIFY BEFORE BOSNIAN STATE COURT

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (December 14,2007) - The Defence teams of Serbian war criminals Zdravko Bozic, Mladen Blagojevic, Zeljko Zaric and Zoran Zivanovic charged with crimes committed against Bosnian civilians in the eastern Bosnian town of Bratunac in July 1995,during the Serbian aggression against Bosnia, said that they will deny that their clients participated in an joint criminal enterprise.

Attorneys representing four former members of the genocidal paramilitary formations of the Serbians living in Bosnia (VRS) have also announced that they would like to examine joint witnesses in the course of the evidence presentation process.

This will include the examination of Serbian war criminals who are currently serving sentences after having been convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague for crimes committed in the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

The Defence teams would like to examine Serbian war criminals,former commanders of the genocidal Serbian aggressor's formations, Radislav Krstic, who was sentenced to 35 years' imprisonment; Vidoje Blagojevic who was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment, and Momir Nikolic, who was sentenced to 20 years.

Attorney Stanko Petrovic said that the defence team expected the ICTY convicts to say that Serbian war criminals "Zdravko Bozic, Mladen Blagojevic, Zeljko Zaric and Zoran Zivanovic did not participate in joint criminal enterprise" as alleged in the indictment filed by the Bosnian State Prosecutor.

Serbian war criminals Zdravko Bozic, Mladen Blagojevic, Zeljko Zaric and Zoran Zivanovic, as members of the genocidal Serbian aggressor's formations, are charged with having murdered a number of Bosnian civilians in Bratunac on July 13 and 14, 1995,during the Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

The indictment alleges that between 2,000 and 3,000 Bosnian civilians were detaind by the genocidal Serbian aggressor in the school building in Bratunac.

One of the joint witnesses the defence teams intend to invite is Aleksander Robert Franken, former deputy commander of the Dutch Battalion that was stationed in Srebrenica in July 1995.

The Defence also intends to invite court expert Radislav Radinovic from Belgrade, who was involved as analyst in the Krstic case processed by the ICTY. Radinovic is expected to determine that the indictees were not members of a joint criminal enterprise.

Miroslav Ristic, defence attorney of Serbian war criminal Mladen Blagojevic, asked the Trial Chamber to "provide some financial resources, because Radinovic has asked for an advance payment in order to prepare findings and opinion and come to Sarajevo to present them".

The Defence teams will also individually invite certain witnesses.

Most of them are former members of the genocidal formations of the Serbians living in Bosnia, whom the Bosnian State Prosecutor examined during the investigation, but it did not use their statements in its evidence presentation process. The defence intends to invite some prosecution witnesses, who have already testified, to testify again on other matters.

Serbian war crimianl Zeljko Zaric's defence intends to invite Serbian war criminal Milorad Trbic, who is currently on trial before the Bosnian State Court of BiH on genocide charges relating to events in the Srebrenica area.

The trial of Serbian war criminals Zdravko Bozic, Mladen Blagojevic, Zeljko Zaric and Zoran Zivanovicis due to continue before the Bosnian State Court on December 18, when the first defence witness, will be examined.