Uncategorized @bs

First Rackovic Defence Witnesses to Appear Next Week

8. October 2014.00:00
The Defence of Vitomir Rackovic, who is charged with crimes in the Visegrad area, announces, during a status conference held before the State Court, that it will need 13 working days for the presentation of its evidence.

This post is also available in: Bosnian

The Trial Chamber announced that, right before the beginning of the hearing it had received the proposed evidence list, so it was not able to give its opinion about it.
 
“It seems to me that too many witnesses have been proposed to testify about the same circumstances. Their number should certainly be reduced, but we can solve that as we go along,” said presiding judge Zoran Bozic.
 
The Prosecution of BiH too said that it considered that too many witnesses were proposed to testify regarding some of the circumstances.
 
The Defence pointed out that it stuck to its proposed evidence list, adding that it would need 26 hours or 13 working days to present them.
 
Rackovic, former member of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, is charged with having participated in attacks on Bosniak villages, detention, torture, forced disappearances of persons from the Visegrad area, as well as rape, from May 1992 to the end of August 1992.
 
The indictment alleges that some of the unlawfully arrested persons have never been found, while bodies of some of the civilians were exhumed at “Slap” in Zepa in 2000.
 
The trial began in mid-February this year.
 
Prior to the status conference, the last State Prosecution witness testified at this hearing. Her testimony was closed to public.
 
The first witnesses of Rackovic’s Defence are due to be examined on Wednesday, October 15.

Selma Učanbarlić


This post is also available in: Bosnian