Indictee Fails to Appear for Unknown Reasons

Ekrem Ibracevic, one of the three indictees who are charged with crimes in the Srebrenik area, fails to appear at a hearing at which the State Prosecution’s custody order motion was due to be discussed.

The Defence and Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, BiH, said that they did not know the reasons for Ibracevic’s absence. Ibracevic, Faruk Smajlovic and Sejdalija Covic are charged with crimes against Serb civilians.

“We shall check why indictee Ekrem Ibracevic has not come to the hearing,” judge Davorin Jukic said.

Among other things, the indictment alleges that Ibracevic, Smajlovic and Covic committed crimes in the Rapatnica local community premises and at the “Rapatnica” football stadium in Luke, where at least 40 civilians were detained, in the summer of 1992.

The civilians were beaten up, tortured and abused in various ways, for instance by using a soldetron and electricity.

According to the charges, Ibracevic was Chief of the Military Security with the municipal Headquarters of the Territorial Defence in Srebrenik, Smajlovic was Commander of a military police Squad with the municipal Headquarters of the Territorial Defence in Srebrenik, while Covic was member of military police.

The next hearing is scheduled for August 18.