Trbic: Court to Visit Zvornik

At the trial of Milorad Trbic, former assistant commander for security with the Zvornik Brigade of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, who is charged with genocide committed in Srebrenica, the State Prosecution presented its proposal for the introduction of facts and announced the examination of six additional witnesses and the presentation of several pieces of material evidence.

Before the Trial Chamber renders a decision concerning the proposal, a visit to the Municipal Court in Zvornik will be undertaken on Monday, January 26, 2009, in order to examine a protected Prosecution witness, whose state of health is poor.

The Prosecution charges Trbic with having participated in a joint criminal enterprise, together with other members of the army and police, by executing more than 7,000 men and committing genocide in Srebrenica in July 1995.

Prosecutor Kwai Hong Ip informed the Court that the Prosecution had “reviewed the presented evidence” over the course of the past holidays, and determined that there “are some important allegations in the indictment, which should be better supported by evidence”.

As explained by Ip, for this reason the Prosecution proposed the examination of six new witnesses, including two ballistic experts. The Prosecution has indicated that the ballistic expert will be able to present evidence in the course of two hearings.

The Defence objected to the presentation of additional evidence, claiming that the Prosecution’s proposal was “unprincipled and unlawful”.

“There are no valid reasons for which the Prosecutor proposes the examination of these witnesses at this stage. To me this represents an unreasonable distraction to the Court. I suggest that the indictee be released from custody. After that, we may continue presenting evidence indefinitely,” said Defence attorney Milan Trbojevic.

Milorad Trbic has been held in custody since his transfer from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ICTY, on June 11, 2007. His trial commenced on December 8, 2007.

The Trial Chamber acknowledged receipt of the Prosecution’s motion, but will render its decision at a later stage. The Chamber expressed the hope that this would be “the last motion filed by the Prosecution”.

The examination of two protected witnesses, previously announced by the Prosecution, was also discussed at the status conference.

The participants then spoke about protection measures to be granted to protected witness P13, but the public were excluded from this part of the session.

This is the third status conference at the trial of Trbic.