Kravica: Krstic refuses to testify
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Radislav Krstic, who was sentenced by the Hague Tribunal to 35 years imprisonment for having “abetted and supported the genocide” in Srebrenica, refused to testify in favour of the eleven indictees, who are tried before the Court of BiH for the genocide committed in eastern Bosnia in July 1995.
Krstic, former commander of Drina Corps with the Republika Srpska Army (VRS), who is currently serving his sentence in Great Britain, refused to appear in the conference room, from which he was supposed to testify via video link. Therefore he did not explain the reasons for which he does not want to testify.
“It seems that the witness refuses to testify and to appear in this room. He does not want to communicate with us via video link. He will submit a written note explaining why he does not want to testify,” said Trial Chamber Chairman Hilmo Vucinic.
The Court managed to establish the link with the British police, who said that Krstic “wanted to talk to his legal advisor.”
The Defence for Milos Stupar, Milenko Trifunovic, Petar Mitrovic, Brane Dzinic, Aleksandar Radovanovic, Slobodan Jakovljevic, Miladin Stevanovic, Velibor Maksimovic, Dragisa Zivanovic, Branislav Medan and Milovan Matic invited Krstic to testify as a Defence witness.
The indictment alleges that ten of them were members of the Second Special Police Squad and Matic was a member of the VRS. They are all charged with having participated in the shooting of more than 1,000 captured Srebrenica residents in Kravica village on July 13, 1995.
At this hearing the parties discussed the evidence proposed by some Defence teams in order to deny the Prosecution’s additional evidence.
The next hearing is scheduled for May 15, when two witnesses from Brane Dzinic’s Defence will be examined, as well as two witnesses from Milos Stupar’s Defence.
