Local Justice – Hadzic and Hodzic: Trial Due to Begin on March 3

At a pre-trial status conference, the Prosecution announced it would examine 43 witnesses during the course of its evidence presentation process.The indictment alleges that Hadzic and Hodzic participated in the torture and inhumane treatment of Serb civilians and prisoners of war from the Bukvik area, Brcko District, in 1992 and 1993.The Prosecution considers that Hadzic was a member of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, or, more precisely, inspector with the Crime Police of the Public Safety Station in Brcko, while Hodzic was a military policeman with the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, who also performed security tasks in detention camps and collection centers at that time.At the status conference, Hodzic’s Defence asked the Court to terminate the measure under which the second indictee’s personal identification card and driver’s license were confiscated.In addition to this measure, other prohibiting measures, including a ban on leaving his place of residence or travelling outside of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as an obligation to report to the police station, were previously ordered against Hodzic. The Defence did not object to these measures.The Court will render its decision at a later stage.The Basic Court confirmed the indictment against Hadzic and Hodzic on November 15, 2010, after which the two indictees pleaded not guilty to the charges.M.A.———————————————————————————————–This article is made possible by the support of the American People through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID.) The contents of this article are the sole responsibility of Balkan investigative reporting network (BIRN) and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.