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Jelena Rasic is indicted for having obtained a false statement from witness Zuhdija Tabakovic and two other witnesses in October 2008.
“Jelena Rasic met Zuhdija Tabakovic in Sarajevo and presented him with a previously prepared statement that he was to repeat at Lukic’s trial. The indictee asked Tabakovic to confirm, sign and verify the statement in return for Euro 1,000. She promised to give him more money if he came to the Hague and testified in favour of Milan Lukic along the lines of the statement,” the first count contained in the indictment says.
By a first instance verdict pronounced in July last year by the the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ICTY, Milan Lukic was sentenced to life imprisonment and Sredoje Lukic to 30 years in prison for crimes committed against Bosniaks in Visegrad.
In March 2010, the ICTY sentenced Zuhdija Tabakovic to three months in prison for contempt of court. Tabakovic, a former policeman from Visegrad, admitted he accepted Euro 1,000 in return for false testimony against Milan and Sredoje Lukic.
The Hague Prosecution charges Rasic with having offered a reward to Tabakovic for finding more men from Visegrad who would be willing to sign false witness statements. He allegedly accepted the offer.
The third count charges her with having obtained false statements by witnesses X and Y, identified by Tabakovic, by paying Euro 1,000 to each of them.
“By committing these actions, Jelena Rasic deliberately and voluntarily interfered with the implementation of justice by the Tribunal and committed contempt of court,” the indictment alleges.
M.H.
