FAMILY PROVIDES ALIBI FOR SERBIAN WAR CRIMINAL MILADIN STEVANOVIC

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (October 14,2007) - Five Defence witnesses have spoken before the Bosnian State Court about Serbian war criminal Miladin Stevanovic's personality, while his aunt and uncle provided him with an alibi.

Defence witnesses at the trial of Serbian war criminal Miladin Stevanovic, one of 11 Serbian war criminals charged with genocide for murdering around 1,000 Bosnian civilians in the eastern Bosnian village Kravica, have spoken about his relationships with Bosnians and provided an alibi for 13 July 1995, when, according to the indictment, the crime of genocide was committed by the Serbian aggressor.

Stevanovic's aunt and uncle, Radenka and Petko Petrovic,who are Serbians living in Bosnia, have said that, on 13 July 1995 – one day after St. Peter's Day - Miladin and "his friend" came for lunch to their house in Bratunac, where they lived at the time. They both claim that Serbian war criminal Miladin Stevanovic arrived at about 13:00 and left at about 17:00 hours, and that he was uniformed and was carried an automatic gun.

The Bosnian State Prosecutor considers that, on 13 July 1995, the 11 indicted Serbian war criminals conducted "safety operations" on the territory of Bratunac municipality, and that they participated in the capture and arrest of several thousand Bosnian civilians who were then gathered at a meadow in Sandici. Several thousands of them were taken by the genocidal Serbian aggressor to Kravica from that location in the course of the day.

The indictment alleges that Serbian war criminals Milos Stupar, Milenko Trifunovic, Petar Mitrovic, Brano Dzinic, Aleksandar Radovanovic, Slobodan Jakovljevic, Miladin Stevanovic, Velibor Maksimovic, Dragisa Zivanovic, Branislav Medan and Milovan Matic participated in the murderin of about 1000 Bosnian civilians in Kravica in the evening hours.

Witnesses Hajrija Djozic and Mula Bajrami, both Bosnians, have said that they were friends with Stevanovic and his family prior to the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia and that they always "got along nicely".

After the war Mujo Salihovic, Vice President of Skelani local community unit, cooperated, by nature of his job, with local policemen, including Miladin Stevanovic, Milenko Trifunovic, Aleksandar Radovanovic and Velibor Maksimovic. He claims that all of them "behaved in a correct manner" in their contacts with the Bosnians, who returned to Skelane a few years after the genocide.

At the next hearing before the Bosnian State Court, scheduled on 17 October, the defence team of Serbian war criminal Brano Dzinic is due to start presenting evidence.