Kos et al: Prosecution Awaits Extradition of Another Genocide Suspect
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“At this stage I cannot disclose the name of the person or the country in which the person was arrested. For the sake of the efficiency of the trial, we are asking the Court to postpone the main trial for 30 days, as the person will have been extradited to Bosnia and Herzegovina by then.
“The only thing I can say is that the suspect is a former member of the same unit as the four indictees and he is suspected of the same actions,” State Prosecutor Behaija Krnjic explained.
Although all Defence teams objected to the proposal, the Trial Chamber accepted it, setting December 14, 2010, as the trial start date.
The indictment alleges that Franc Kos, known as Slovenian and Zuti; Stanko Kojic, also known as Geza; Vlastimir Golijan; and Zoran Goronja, known as Zoka, participated in the murder of more than 800 men and boys on Branjevo military farm in Pilica, Zvornik municipality, in July 1995.
Among other things, the indictment alleges that Kos, as the Commander of the First Bijeljina Platoon of the Tenth Sabotage Detachment with the Main Staff of the Army of the Republika Srpska, VRS, and Kojic, Golijan and Goronja, as members of the same Squad shot detainees, some of whom were blindfolded and tied.
The Prosecution’s indictment further alleges that, following the mass murder of men and boys, Kos and Kojic searched for survivors, whom they then “killed by shooting them with revolvers”.
A pre-trial status conference was held at the hearing today. The Prosecution and Defence teams announced they would examine more than 60 witnesses.
The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina said it would examine 40 witnesses and present a number of pieces of material evidence against the four indictees.
“Out of the total number of proposed witnesses, a certain number of them asked for protection measures. We shall provide details about those measures at a later stage. We are planning to examine an expert witness as well,” Prosecutor Krnjic said, adding the Prosecution would need “a maximum of 30 days” for the presentation of its evidence.
The Defence of the four indictees were not able to provide the Court with the exact number of witnesses, but they said they planned to examine “more than 20 witnesses”, adding they would need “about a month” to do so.
