RETRIAL OF SERBIAN WAR CRIMINAL MARKO SAMARDZIJA POSTPONED

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (March 5,2008) – Serbian war criminal Marko Samardzija, charged with war crimes committed against Bosnian civilians in Kljuc municipality,during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia, failed to appear before the Appellate Chamber of the Bosnian State Court yesterday for a hearing on when his retrial will commence.

According to the explanation given by Defence attorney Zlatko Knezevic, Serbian war criminal Marko Samardzija is gravely sick and he is undergoing medical treatment in a hospital in Prijedor.

'The indictee suffers from prostate cancer and some carcinogenic deformations have also been detected on his bladder," Knezevic said, handing the relevant medical documentation over to the Trial Chamber.

In November 2006, the Bosnian State Court sentenced Serbian war criminal Marko Samardzija, by a first instance verdict to 26 years imprisonment for crimes committed against Bosnian civilians in Kljuc municipality in 1992,during the Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

However in May 2007, the Appellate Chamber of the Bosnian State Court quashed the first instance verdict by partially upholding appeals filed by the indictee and his Defence attorney, and ordered a retrial.

The indictment alleges that Samardzijc participated, as member of the genocidal paramilitary formations of the Serbians living in Bosnia, in the deportation and murder of a large number of Bosnian civilians from Brkici and Balagica Brdo villages.

Serbian war criminal Marko Samardzija was detained between March 21, 2005 to early October, 2007 after which his custody was terminated and replaced with certain prohibitive measures, including an obligation to report to the Public Safety Centre in Prijedor twice a week and a ban on visiting the Kljuc municipality area.

Attorney Knezevic told the Appellate Chamber that he was "convinced that it was not the indictee's intention to evade the trial" but, considering the severity of his disease, he would take a long time to recover.

The continuation of the trial will depend on the indictee's health.
.