Monday, 21 april 2025.
Prijavite se na sedmični newsletter Detektora
Newsletter
Novinari Detektora svake sedmice pišu newslettere o protekloj i sedmici koja nas očekuje. Donose detalje iz redakcije, iskrene reakcije na priče i kontekst o događajima koji oblikuju našu stvarnost.

This post is also available in: Bosnian

“We ask that the acquittal be quashed and the case sent for retrial, where new evidence would be presented, which would establish the state of facts completely and find Neskovic and Ilic guilty,” the Bosnian state prosecutor, Predrag Tomic, said on Friday.

The men, who both served with the Bosnian Serb special police brigade’s Jahorina Training Centre, were found not guilty in October last year of capturing Bosniaks from Srebrenica in July 1995 and transporting them to an agricultural cooperative in Kravica near the town of Bratunac, where around 1,000 of them were murdered.

Tomic however argued that the verdict had got the facts wrong.

He said that it was impossible that Neskovic and Ilic were not aware of the wide-ranging and systematic Bosnian Serb assault on the UN ‘safe zone’ of Srebrenica, and that their actions were a part of the attack plan.

“The fate of was obvious to everyone, even Neskovic. He was in Potocari on July 12 and 13 and no one, not even him, could claim he did not know what was happening there, and that what was happening was terror,” said Tomic.

Explaining the acquittal verdict last year, the judge said that some witness testimony had significant discrepancies and errors, rendering it unreliable.

Neskovic and Ilic’s defence asked for the prosecution’s appeal to be dismissed and the acquittal confirmed.

Neskovic’s lawyer, Vesna Tupajic-Skiljevic, said that the prosecution failed to prove her client was in charge.

“Claims that he had command responsibility are arbitrary and it has not been proven by anything, not even by numerous witnesses,” said Tupajic-Skiljevic.

Ilic’s lawyer, Milos Peric, said that the prosecution’s claim that Ilic had threatened witnesses during the trial was false.

“Such claims are a product of fabrication and wrongful assertion by the prosecution. Had the trial chamber thought so, it would have remanded Ilic in custody,” said the lawyer.

The court will rule on the appeal at a later date.

Najčitanije
Saznajte više
Detektor Journalist Wins First Prize at ‘Remembering Through Art’ Exhibition
A testimony by Srebrenica mother Emina Hajdarevic about the son she lost in the 1995 Srebrenica genocide, filmed by Detektor journalist Lamija Grebo, has won first prize at the Remembering through Art online exhibition.
UN Court Again Refuses Bosnian Croat Wartime Leader Early Release
The UN war crimes court in The Hague has rejected a request for early release from former Bosnian Croat political chief Jadranko Prlic, citing his “heinous” crimes and “insufficient” rehabilitation.
Bosnia Indicts Five Serb Ex-Military Policemen for Genocide
Bosnia Charges Ten with War Crimes Against Serb Prisoners
Ukraine Does Not Get to Penalize All Crimes against Children