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Prosecutor Dragan Corlija proposed to the Court to extend custody by one month and 15 days, because the Court had still not confirmed the indictment and the Prosecution wanted to rearrange it and submit it again for confirmation.
There is a serious risk that, if he is released to liberty, the suspect might influence eyewitnesses and the close relatives of those killed. He might influence them by threatening or intimidating them, the Prosecutor explained.
He said that Zivkovic, who was arrested in mid-June 2012, would be interested in harmonising his defence with his co-perpetrators, who were under investigation and whose identify was still not known to the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Zivkovic, former member of the Territorial Defence in Bratunac, is suspected of having participated in crimes against the non-Serb population in Hranca and Glogova villages, where several of tens of civilians were killed, while their property was pillaged and set on fire.
Najdan Mladjenovic, former member of the Territorial Defence in Bratunac, was arrested at the beginning of May due to a suspicion that he participated in that same crime. On July 9, the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina filed an indictment against Zivkovic and Mladjenovic.
The Defence of Zivkovic objected to the custody extension motion related to Zivkovic, saying that the level of grounded suspicion is generalised and without evidence.
The grounded suspicion is loose, said Nenad Grubez, Defence attorney for the suspect.
The Defence attorney explained that two witnesses, whose statements cast suspicion, had died, adding that he had not received a statement given by one witness. As the Defence attorney said, the other witnesses were protected.
The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina will render a decision concerning the custody extension for Zivkovic at a later stage.
A.J.
