Vukovic and Tomic: Evidence Presentation Completed
05 February 2010 The trial of Radomir Vukovic and Zoran Tomic has been completed after more than one year of hearing evidence. Dates for the presentation of closing statements by the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Defence teams have been set.
The State Prosecution is due to present its closing statement on February 19, while the Defence teams will do the same at hearings scheduled for February 24 and March 9 this year.
Radomir Vukovic and Zoran Tomic, former members of the Second Special Police Squad from Sekovici with the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Republika Srpska, MUP RS, are charged with genocide committed in Srebrenica in July 1995.
The two indictees are charged with having participated in capturing and shooting more than 1,000 Bosniak men in Kravica Agricultural Cooperative on July 13, 1995. The indictment alleges that Vukovic threw bombs at the captured Bosniaks and Tomic shot them using an automatic rifle.
The trial of the two indictees began in December 2008.
The Trial Chamber announced that the Defence teams would not be able to cross-examine, via video link, Paul Groenwegen, a former member of the Dutch Battalion, as the witness has indicated that he "does not know the indictees and has nothing to add to his previous statement".
"In this case there are insuperable barriers to the re-examination of this witness. The Court has no modality to force him to testify," Trial Chamber Chairman Senadin Begtasevic said.
At the hearing held on January 22, 2010 the Defence teams were due to cross-examine witness Groenwegen, but his examination was postponed due to technical difficulties.
The Chamber rejected the Defence's proposal to reexamine protected witness D5, who testified for the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina in February 2009. At the time a decision was made to prohibit public disclosure of the content of this testimony because of the prohibiting measures granted to the protected witness. The Trial Chamber ruled that the reexamination of this witness would "delay the proceedings".
It also rejected the proposal made by Vukovic's Defence to examine a witness who is due to be examined by the Prosecution in the case of Dusko Jevic and others. The Chamber said this proposal was "undefined".
The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina charges Dusko Jevic, Mendeljev Djuric and Goran Markovic with genocide committed in Srebrenica in July 1995. Among other things, they are charged with the murder of civilians in Kravica Agricultural Cooperative. The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina confirmed the indictment against Jevic, Djuric and Markovic on January 22, 2010.
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