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Although the evidence presentation at the trial of the four former members of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, was due to be completed, the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina might present additional pieces of evidence. At this hearing the Defence finalized its evidence presentation process.
“It is not up to us to decide when we shall present the new evidence, as it depends on other institutions, which have been asked to issue them. In addition, I am asking you to let us have some more time until Prosecutor Kwai Hong Ipp, who is in charge of this case, returns from his annual leave,” Prosecutor Philip Alcock said.
Trial Chamber Chairman Stanisa Gluhajic has agreed to postpone the next hearing until October 13, adding that he hoped that the presentation of closing arguments would start on that day.
The trial of Zdravko Bozic, Mladen Blagojevic, Zeljko Zaric and Zoran Zivanovic, conducted before the State Court, began on April 20, 2007.
The State Prosecution charges the four indictees, as members of the Military Police Squad with the Bratunac Light Infantry Brigade of the VRS, with having participated in the guarding of buses, used for transportation of civilians from Potocari to Bratunac, where they were then detained in the school building, in which they were mistreated and killed.
The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina proposed the inclusion of the indictee’s statements as material evidence, but the Trial Chamber rejected the proposal, due to the fact that the indictees were not examined in the course of the main trial.
After that the Defence of Zdravko Bozic examined additional witness Vera Dacic, who lived just across the street from the school in Bratunac, in which civilians were detained, in July 1995.
“I saw trucks and buses bringing Bosniak men, who were then detained in the school building. There were two soldiers in each bus and truck. I suppose they guarded them, so that they would not escape. A policeman was standing in front of the school, telling Bratunac citizens not to use that street,” the witness recalled.
Dacic said that she did not know how many Bosniaks were detained in the school building, adding that she could not sleep the entire night because she heard “shooting and shouting and she was afraid”.
“I saw a detainee sitting on a school window. After that she fell down and broke. I heard the sound of him hitting the ground,” the witness said.
In the course of direct examination the witness said she knew indictee Zdravko Bozic, as they both came from “the same area”. She said that she did not see him that night, when the Bosniaks were detained in the school.
The Defence has completed additional evidence presenting by the examination of witness Dacic.
