TIHIC AND HOSSEINI DISCUSSED COOPERATION BETWEEN BOSNIA AND IRAN

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (August 22,2008) - The President of the largest Bosnian political party - the Party of Democratic Action (Bosnian: Stranka Demokratske Akcije - SDA) Sulejman Tihic met with the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Bosnia Ahmad Fard Hosseini yesterday.They discussed cooperation between the two friendly countries and exchanged their views on current political issues.

The two officials emphasized that cooperation between Bosnia and Iran was in the interest of all Bosnian and Iranian citizens.The meeting reviewed the existing level of cooperation and underlined the need for promoting robust ties as their existed tremendous scope of cooperation in various fields.

Ambassador Hosseini expressed his hope that Bosnian politicians would succeed in reaching a consensus and meet the conditions of the Stabilization and Assocation Agreement with the European Union.

Tihic thanked the Iranian people and leadership for their support and generous assistance to the Bosnian people during the 1992-1995 Serbian,Montenegrin and Croatian aggressions against Bosnia.
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UN WAR CRIMES COURT APPOINTS SCOTTISH JUDGE IAIN BONOMY TO PRESIDE OVER TRIAL OF SERBIAN WAR CRIMINAL RADOVAN KARADZIC

THE HAGUE, The Netherlands (August 22,2008) - The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) appointed today Scottish judge Iain Bonomy to oversee preparations for the genocide trial of former leader and creator of the genocidal Serbian creature in Bosnia "RS" and one of the masterminds of the genocide against the Bosnian people, committed during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia,Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic.

Bonomy's appointment comes after tribunal president Fausto Pocar reassigned the Dutch judge who led Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic's first appearance at the court.

On Aug. 15, Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic mailed a letter to Pocar accusing Orie of having an anti-Serbian bias and requesting that he be removed from the case.

Pocar said yesterday he had decided to change chambers for "trial management and case distribution needs".In a separate filing, he said Karadzic's letter had been submitted to him improperly, and so there was no need to address it, given the change.

Bonomy was a judge in the trial of Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic's former mentor Serbian war criminal Slobodan Milosevic. That case was aborted when Milosevic died of a heart attack in his U.N. cell in March 2006.

Bonomy and Karadzic will come face-to-face for the first time Aug. 29, when Serbian war criminal must enter pleas to 11 charges including genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. If he refuses, the court automatically enters not guilty pleas.

Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic was arrested last month after 13 years on the run from justice.He is charged on the basis of individual criminal responsibility [Article 7(1) of the ICTY Statute] and superior criminal responsibility [Article 7(3)] with:

Genocide, complicity in genocide, extermination, murder, wilful killing (grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, violation of the laws or customs of war, genocide, crime against humanity, Articles 2-5), committed in the areas that include but are not limited to the municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina of Bijeljina, Bratunac, Bosanski Šamac, Brčko, Doboj, Foča, Ilijaš, Ključ, Kotor Varoš, Novi Grad, Prijedor, Rogatica, Sanski Most, Srebrenica, Višegrad, Vlasenica, Zavidovići and Zvornik, and the Srebrenica enclave.

Persecutions, deportation, inhumane acts, unlawfully inflicting terror upon civilians, taking of hostages (violations of the laws or customs of war, crimes against humanity, Articles 3 and 5). committed in the areas that include but are not limited to the municipalities of Banja Luka, Bijeljina, Bileća, Bosanska Krupa, Bosanski Novi, Bosanski Petrovac, Bosanski Šamac, Bratunac, Brčko, Čajniče, Čelinac, Doboj, Donji Vakuf, Foča, Gacko, Hadžići, Ilidža, Ilijaš, Jajce, Ključ, Kalinovik, Kotor Varoš, Nevesinje, Novi Grad, Novo Sarajevo, Pale, Prijedor, Prnjavor, Rogatica, Rudo, Sanski Most, Šekovići, Šipovo, Sokolac, Teslić, Trnovo, Višegrad, Vlasenica, Vogošća, Zavidovići, and Zvornik and the Srebrenica enclave,during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.
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TESTIMONY OF WAR CRIMES INVESTIGATOR MIRSAD TOKACA POSTPONED IN TRIAL OF SERBIAN WAR CRIMINAL PREDRAG KUJUNDZIC

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (August 22,2008) - Following the Trial Chamber's intervention, the Bosnian State Prosecutor postponed yesterday the examination of witness Mirsad Tokaca.Due to the fact that the Bosnian State Prosecutor was not able to examine its witness in the manner requested by the Trial Chamber, it decided to postpone his examination. The new date will be set at a later stage.

Mirsad Tokaca, who introduced himself as "war crimes investigator", is president of the Research and Documentation Centre, RDC, from the Bosnian capital Sarajevo. This NGO was behind the project on "Population loss in Bosnia, 1991 to 1992".

The Prosecution invited him to testify at the trial of Serbian war criminal Predrag Kujundzic. The indictment states that Kujundzic was commander of a genocidal Serbian paramilitary unit. He is charged with war crimes against Bosnian civilians,committed in the Doboj area,during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

The Defence objected Tokaca's examination in the first place, claiming that he could not be considered as a representative of some formal authority and adding that it was not clear how the RDC obtained the data that Tokaca was going to present in the courtroom.

The Trial Chamber rejected the Defence's objection, adding that it would treat the evidence "in the same way as all other pieces of evidence", after the completion of his examination.

The Prosecution tried to examine Tokaca by asking him about the broad context of the war and number of victims in Doboj area, but the Chamber intervened.

"The factual description contained in the indictment does not cover the entire area of Doboj municipality. It mentions specific locations and we therefore have to concentrate on concrete names and data," Trial Chamber Chairman Saban Maksumic said.

The database compiled by the RDC, on the basis of collected documents and research activities, contains names of individual persons and information about how those persons died during the course of the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

The Chamber allowed the Prosecution to prepare the witness again and examine him in a different way, which will be adjusted to the Bosnian State Court's proposal.

The Chamber mentioned that protected Prosecution witness 14 refused to cooperate and receive the summons. It informed the Prosecution that it might issue an apprehension order, unless the Prosecution decided not to examine this witness at all.

The Chamber asked the Prosecution to provide it with the recent documents that would show whether protected witness 18 was capable of appearing in the courtroom. The Prosecution filed a motion, asking to read the witness' statement in the courtroom, as he was allegedly not able to appear before the court due to health reasons.

The trial of Serbian war criminal Predrag Kujundzic is due to continue before the Bosnian State Court on August 25,2008.
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BOSNIAN STATE PROSECUTOR COMPLETES EVIDENCE PRESENTATION AT TRIAL OF FOUR SERBIAN WAR CRIMINALS

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (August 22,2008) - The Bosnian State Prosecutor presented material evidence yesterday thus completing its evidence presentation at the trial of Serbian war criminals Sreten Lazarevic, Dragan Stanojevic, Mile Markovic and Slobodan Ostojic.Earlier on the Prosecution examined all witnesses and asked for permission to present its material evidence at a later stage, when the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ICTY, provided it with endorsements and certificates related to the presented documents.

In the meantime the Defence started presenting evidence.

The Bosnian State Prosecutor charges Serbian war criminals Sreten Lazarevic, Dragan Stanojevic, Mile Markovic and Slobodan Ostojic, as members of the genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor's formations, with having participated in the detention and torture of Bosnian civilians from the eastern Bosnian town of Zvornik,during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

The indictment states that Sreten Lazarevic was the commander of a concentration camp in Zvornik, in which Bosnian civilians were held by the, while Serbian war criminals Dragan Stanojevic, Mile Markovic and Slobodan Ostojic were detention camp guards.

According to the indictment on several occasions, Serbian war criminal Dragan Stanojević, in the capacity of the concentration camp guard, enabled groups of the genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor's soldiers to torture and abuse detained Bosnian civilians. The indictment states that in September 1992, Serbian war criminal Dragan Stanojević tortured one ninety year old detained Bosnian civilian.

The indictment further states that Serbian war criminal Mile Marković, in September 1992 in the building of DP Novi Izvor, together with another concentration camp guard, tortured one detained Bosnian civilian, beating him all over his body and forcing him to hold his arms in front of his face in order to prevent the blood from splashing around.

The indictment states that, in the summer of 1992, Serbian war criminal Slobodan Ostojić in the building of DP Novi Izvor, together with an unidentified group of concentration camp guards, tortured two detained Bosnian civilians, for an alleged suspicion that they attempted to escape from the concentration camp.

The documents, presented yesterday by the Bosnian State Prosecutor, mainly contain evidence of the existence of an armed conflict in the Zvornik area in the period covered by the indictment.

The Prosecution presented a list of members of the genocidal paramilitary formations of the Serbians living in Bosnia from Zvornik. The mentioned list contains the names of the four Serbian war criminals.

The trial of Serbian war criminals Sreten Lazarevic, Dragan Stanojevic, Mile Markovic and Slobodan Ostojic is due to continue before the Bosnian State Court on August 26, 2008.
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BOSNIA'S MONTHLY INFLATION DROPS TO 0.1%

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (August 22,2008) - Maida Hasanbegovic, Deputy Director of the Bosnian State Agency for Statistics said monthly inflation in July amounted to 0.1%.

Annual inflation in Bosnia in July amounted to 9.9%. At an annual level, the prices of transport increased most – as much as 19%, as well as food and non-alcoholic beverages – 15.8%. Annual inflation in eurozone in July amounted to 4%, while in the EU it was 4.4%. The highest inflation was registered in Latvia – 16.5% and the lowest one in the Netherlands – 3% and in Portugal – 3.1%,said the Bosnian State Agency for Statistics.

The prices of transport rose most – 1.3%, and the restaurants and hotels increased their prices 1.1%. The prices of housing, water, electricity, gas and other energy derivatives were up 0.5%, the prices of furniture, house appliances and house maintenance as well as alcoholic beverages were up 0.4%, and the prices of tobacco and education rose 0.2%.

The price increase was largely influenced by 2%price increase of petrol and 3.2% town-transport. Prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages in July fell slightly – 0.8%.
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