Pelemis: Examination of Convict Slavko Peric Proposed
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Prosecutor Dubravko Campara told the Appellate Chamber of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina that he would try to prove the indictees guilt by reproducing witnesses statements and presenting documents introduced during the first instance trial.
In his introductory statement Pelemis said that the Prosecutions data was untrue, claiming that he was not guilty to any of the charges from the indictment.
Pelemis, former Deputy Commander of the First Battalion with Zvornik Brigade of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, is charged with having assisted in the execution of more than a thousand of captured Srebrenica residents in Pilica village and on nearby Branjevo farm in mid-July 1995.
The Appellate Chamber quashed the verdict pronounced in 2011, under which Pelemis was sentenced to 16 years in prison for having assisted in the commission of genocide in Srebrenica.
Defence attorney Milos Peric said that Pelemis did not have an effective control over members of the First Battalion and that his position could not be associated with the actions committed by his subordinates and what was done.
He was informed that the Srebrenica residents, who had been brought to Pilica, would be exchanged. He did not have information that they would be executed, Peric said.
The Defence attorney said that Pelemis was nearly 20 kilometres away from Pilica and that he had other obligations related to combat positions.
Following the presentation of introductory statements, the Court listened to a statement given by witness Rajko Babic during the first instance trial.
The Prosecution proposed that Slavko Peric, former Assistant Commander for Security with the First Battalion, who was originally on trial together with Pelemis, be examined as a new piece of evidence.
Appellate Chamber Chairman Mirko Bozovic said that the Court would render a decision concerning the proposed new pieces of evidence at a later stage.
Under a second instance verdict, Peric was sentenced to 11 years in prison, which is eight years less in comparison to the first instance sentence.
