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Slobodan Ostojic, one of four persons indicted for crimes committed in Zvornik in the course of the war, has pleaded not guilty before the Court of BiH.
Preliminary hearing judge Georges Reniers, who chaired the session, noted the indictee’s personal data, listened to the Prosecution and Defence’s arguments and closed the session without inviting the indictee to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty.
After the expert associates who were present in the courtroom reacted, the judge addressed the indictee by saying: “What have you got to say about your guilt?”
Ostojic, Sreten Lazarevic, Mile Markovic and Dragan Stanojevic, former members of the Serbian military forces, with having “assisted others and personally caused bodily injuries to Bosniaks detained in the Criminal Offence Court building and ‘Novi izvor’ building in Zvornik” from May 1992 to March 1993.
Lazarevic and Markovic pleaded not guilty on October 23, while Stanojevic is defending himself by silence. Ostojic failed to appear at the previous plea hearing and he has therefore been invited again.
Sanja Jukic, who represents the Prosecution of BiH in this case, asked that Ostojic be forbidden to leave his place of residence due to fears of “a possible escape”. Miodrag Stojanovic, the indictee’s defence attorney, objected to this proposal.
“My client has appeared every time he was invited by the court and he has no reason to leave his place of residence. He is currently having health problems, issues with stress and with the planning of his life in the future. I consider that the measures prohibiting him from leaving his place of residence would make his position even worse,” Stojanovic explained.
The Court will make a decision on this proposal at a later stage.
