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Kravica: Verdict due on July 29

Medan i Matic sa braniocima

17 July 2008  After most Defence teams have presented their closing arguments, the Trial Chamber has announced that it will announce the first verdict for the Srebrenica genocide on July 29.

The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina is due to announce its verdict against the 11 indictees, who are charged with the genocide in Srebrenica, on July 29.

The Trial Chamber has announced that it will need some more time to "discuss and conduct a comprehensive analysis of the evidence presented during the course of this complex case." It will therefore announce the verdict in late July only.

The State Prosecution charges ten former members of the Special Police Unit and one member of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, with having participated in the shooting of more than 1,000 Bosniaks, who were detained in the Agricultural Cooperative premises in Kravica, near Srebrenica, on July 13, 1995.

Presenting his closing arguments, Borislav Jamina, Defence attorney of Branislav Medan, said that the Prosecution had not managed to prove the allegations contained in the indictment. He therefore considers that his client should be acquitted of all charges.

Jamina said that there was no evidence that there were "several thousand captured Bosniaks" in Srebrenica and its vicinity and that they were transported to Kravica in order to be executed.

"The incident, involving a prisoner who took a gun from a guard and killed him, generated vengeful and uncontrolled killing of the prisoners, who were held in the warehouse," the Defence attorney said, adding that a witness said that it was "normal for the soldiers to start shooting at the prisoners" after that incident.

As stated by Defence attorney Jamina, indictee Medan "was passive" when the crime was committed, adding that he was behind the warehouse. He quoted some witnesses, who said that no shooting came from that specific location.

"The fact that he came from his town Mostar to Skelani and the crime scene was just his bad luck. His passive behaviour and the fact that he did not take any action cannot be qualified as a complicity in or support to the murder of those prisoners," Jamina said in conclusion.

Milos Peric, Defence attorney of Milovan Matic, said that his client was a civilians, "involved in humanitarian activities," during the course of the war. He claims that the Prosecution has not proved that he was present in Kravica and that he was linked to members of the Special Polcie Unit in any way.

The indictment alleges that Matic was member of the VRS, who "took away watches, money and jewelry" from the captured Bosniaks in Kravica and "recharged the ammunition boxes" during the course of the shooting.

"De facto and de jure, there is no evidence against Matic in this case. Nobody said that he recharged the ammunition boxes and nobody recognised him. The witnesses said that the person, who had taken away watches, was not the same person who had recharged the ammunition boxes. The description of those two persons do not match the indictee," Peric said, referring, among other things, to the testimony of protected witness S2, who was one of the two survivors.

Peric considers that "the only adequate verdict against Matic would be the one acquitting him of all charges." He said that only then could objective observers and the general public say that "justice was fulfilled."

The Defence of Petar Mitrovic and Miladin Stevanovic are due to present their closing arguments on July 18.