TRIAL OF SERBIAN WAR CRIMINALS RANKO AND RAJKO VUKOVIC TO START BEFORE BOSNIAN STATE COURT THIS WEEK

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (November 5,2007) - The trial of Serbian war criminals Ranko and Rajko Vukovic gets underway this week, while the trials of 19 persons indicted for war crimes are due to continue.

On Thursday, November 8, the trial of Serbian war criminals Ranko and Rajko Vukovic gets underway before the War Crimes Chamber of the Bosnian State Court.

They are charged with the murder of two Bosnian civilians in the eastern Bosnian town of Foca in 1992,during the Serbian aggression against Bosnia, while Serbian war criminal Ranko Vukovic is also charged with having raped one person. The prosecution has announced that it will examine six witnesses, one of whom will testify under the pseudonym of 'A'.

According to the official timetable of the Bosnian State Court, in the first three days of this week, the trial of Serbian war criminal Zeljko Mejakic will continue. Serbian war criminals Zeljko Mejakic, Momcilo Gruban, Dusan Fustar and Dusko Knezevic are charged with the rape, beating, torture and murder of Bosnian and Croatian civilians detained by the genocidal Serbian aggressor in Omarska and Keraterm concentration camps in the early stages of the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

The trial of Serbian war criminals Mirko Todorovic and Milos Radic, charged with having participated in the shooting of fourteen Bosnian civilians in Borkovac village near the eastern Bosnian town of Bratunac in May 1992, is scheduled for today, November 5, when the Bosnian State Prosecutor is due to examine two witnesses.

On Tuesday, November 6, the trial is due to continue in the case of Sefik Alic, former assistant commander for security of the "Hamze" Battalion with the 505th Buzim Brigade, the Fifth Corps of the Bosnian Army, who is indicted for offences committed against the captured genocidal Serbian aggressor's soldiers.

Croatian war criminals Marko Radic, Dragan Sunjic, Damir Brekalo and Mirko Vracevic are due to appear before the Bosnian State Court on Wednesday, November 7, when the Bosnian State Prosecutor will continue presenting its evidence. The prosecution charges them with having committed, in the course of 1993 and 1994,during the Croatian aggression against Bosnia, murder, rape and beating of Bosnian civilians detained in the Vojno concentration camp near the southern Bosnian city of Mostar. The detained Bosnian civilians were also forced by the Croatian aggressor to perform hard labour.

On Thursday this week, the trial of Croatian war criminal Pasko Ljubicic is due to continue. The former member of the Croatian aggressor's formations is charged with having committed crimes against Bosnian civilians in the Bosnian towns of Vitez and Busovaca and the surrounding villages in 1993,during the Croatian aggression against Bosnia.

On the same day,November 8,the trial of Zijad Kurtovic,a former soldier of the Bosnian Army,is due to continue before the Bosnian State Court. The Bosnian State Prosecutor charges him with the torture and maltreatment of 20 Croatians living in Bosnia,detained in Donja Dreznica near the southern Bosnian town of Jablanica in 1993.

On Friday, November 9, the defence team of Croatian war criminal Zdravko Mihaljevic, who is charged with crimes committed in the Tulice village near the Bosnian town of Kiseljak in 1993,during the Croatian aggression against Bosnia, will continue to present its evidence.

On the same day, Serbian war criminal Jadranko Palija's defence team is due to continue presenting its evidence before the Bosnian State Court. The Bosnian State Prosecutor charges him with having participated in the intimidation, beating, capture and detention of Bosnian and Croatian civilians, and in the murder and rape of two women on the territory of the Bosnian town of Sanski Most.

The trial of Serbian war criminals Zdravko Bozic, Mladen Blagojevic, Zeljko Zaric and Zoran Zivanovic charged with genocide is also due to continue before the Bosnian State Court on Friday.

The four former members of the genocidal paramilitary formations of the Serbians living in Bosnia (VRS) are charged with having participated in the maltreatment and murder of the Bosnian civilians from the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica who were detained in the elementary school in Bratunac in July 1995,during the Serbian aggression against Bosnia. The Bosnian State Prosecutor has announced that it plans to continue presenting material evidence and examine an additional witness.