Plea Hearing Postponed

10. August 2009.10:50
The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina postpones a plea hearing in the case of Milisav Gavric as the indictee is still a fugitive.

This post is also available in: Bosnian

It is assumed that he is in Serbia; he has Serbian as well as BiH citizenship.

The indictment against Milisav Gavric, charging him with crimes against humanity “in lieu of genocide” committed in the Srebrenica area, was confirmed in June 2008.

When it filed the indictment the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina did not file a warrant issuance motion, but a custody order motion. It failed to file the warrant issuance motion after the indictee had failed to appear at a plea hearing.

The indictment alleges that Gavric, who was Deputy Commander of the Police Station in Srebrenica, “committed, abetted, helped and supported” crimes on the territory of Srebrenica Municipality in July 1995.

Gavric is charged with forcible transportation of thousands of Bosniak civilians from Srebrenica, as well as separation of men who have been missing since then.

The indictment alleges that Gavric committed these crimes in collaboration with other unidentified soldiers and policemen, and it cites Miroslav Deronjic and Momir Nikolic as his accomplices.

After Nikolic signed a guilt admission agreement, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia sentenced him to 20 years in prison for crimes committed in Srebrenica. Deronjic, as former President of the Crisis Committee in Bratunac, was sentenced to 10 years for crimes committed in Glogova village.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Republika Srpska seized Gavric’s personal identification documents and travel documents on July 11, 2007, in accordance with a decision rendered by the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, banning the indictee from traveling outside Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The State Prosecution claims that, despite the orders, Gavric stayed in Serbia (Belgrade), where he is a citizen. His permanent place of residence is in Serbia.

Data available to the Prosecution indicates that Interpol hand-delivered the indictment and summons for today’s hearing to the indictee. Considering the fact that the Defence has not been informed as to whether Gavric received the indictment, it objected to the custody order motion.

The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has scheduled another plea hearing in the Milisav Gavric case for October 2.

This post is also available in: Bosnian