Local Justice – Ribic: Witness Fails to Appear

Trial Chamber Chairwoman Radmila Stancic said that witness Nenad Ljubicic had sent a written note, saying that he was not able to attend the hearing.

“In his letter Ljubicic mentions that he is in Serbia and that he cannot be absent from work, adding that he does not know whether or when he will be able to testify,” Stancic said.

Considering the fact that there is no mechanism for forcing witnesses from Serbia to come to the District Court in Doboj, Prosecutor Slavko Krulj proposed that Ljubicic’s statement given during the investigation be read in the courtroom.

The Defence of indictee Ribic objected to the proposal, explaining that it would be deprived of a possibility to cross-examine the witness.

“The witness, who gave a statement during the investigation, should not be exempted from an obligation to appear in court,” said Defence attorney Dzavid Slamnik.

The Trial Chamber decided to send new summons to Nenad Ljubicic and scheduled the continuation of the trial of indictee Ribic for December 14.

According to the charges, Senahid Ribic, former member of the 102nd Brigade of the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, committed the unlawful deprivation of liberty of civilians, the physical and mental abuse of captured civilians, murders and confiscation of other people’s property and participated in setting houses on fire in the Odzak area in the period from May to July 1992.