Srebrenica genocide indictment confirmed
26 August 2008 The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina files an indictment, which has now been confirmed by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, against Zoran Tomic, a former policeman, who is charged with genocide in Srebrenica.
The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina confirmed
the indictment against Zoran Tomic, former member of the Second Special Police
Squad from Sekovici, charging him with genocide in Srebrenica in July
1995, after the fall of the UN protected zone.
The Prosecution considers
that, on July 12 and 13, 1995 Tomic participated in the search of villages near
Potocari and "safeguarding passage" of the road from Bratunac to Konjevic
Polje, which was for transporting women, children and the elderly out of
Srebrenica.
He is charged with having participated, on July 13, 1995, in
an attack on a column of Bosniaks, forcing them to surrender, as well as in the
capture of several thousand of men from Srebrenica. It is alleged that about one
thousand of them were taken to the warehouse of the Agricultural Cooperative in
Kravica, where they were shot.
After having filed the indictment, the
Prosecution proposed the examination of 35 witnesses and one court expert, as
well as presentation of more than 150 pieces of material evidence. It has also
proposed to the Court to keep the indictee under custody due to a possibility
that he might try to influence the witnesses and accessories and because of
"extraordinary circumstances and violation of public order and
peace".
"We are talking about extraordinary circumstances, as this
criminal offence is particularly grave, bearing in mind the manner in which it was
perpetrated and its consequences. Therefore, releasing the indictee would result
in a real threat against the public peace. This is further supported by the fact
that the indictee was a member of the Republika Srpska Interior Ministry until his
arrest. This fact might influence the safety of Bosniak returnee families," the
Prosecution's motion states.
Tomic has been held in custody since June
3, 2008. Unofficial data suggest that he was suspended from his job in the
police in July 2007, when an investigation was allegedly opened against him due
to his participation in the events that happened in Srebrenica and its vicinity
in July 1995.
In October 2007, Zoran Tomic appeared before the Court of
Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to testify in favour of two, out of eleven,
former members of the Special Police Squad and the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, who
were recently sentenced, by a first instance verdict, to a long-term imprisonment
for genocide in Srebrenica.
In the course of his testimony,
Tomic said that he was about 1,300 metres away from the location where a large
number of Srebrenica residents were killed on July 13, 1995.
In late July 2008 the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina sentenced seven former policemen and VRS members to a total of 284 years' imprisonment for having committed genocide and killing more than a thousand of men in Kravica.
Justice Report is a
specialist reporting agency focusing on war crimes trials taking place before
local courts; development of the local legal system; and efforts to come to
terms with the past.
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The opinions expressed in Balkan Insight are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network
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