Extension of Prohibiting Measures against Mrdja and Kokot Proposed

Prosecutor Olivera Djuric said that there was still a fear that they might flee and influence the witnesses, whose identities had been known to the indictees since the confirmation of the indictment.

The Defence of Ranko Mrdja agreed with the proposal to extend a ban on traveling, meeting certain individuals and leaving Prijedor, but it said that there was no need to report to the Police Station twice a week, considering that the trial was due to start soon and that the indictee would come to the Court every week.

Kenan Ademovic, Defence attorney of Mile Kokot, did not object to the measures extension motion either, asking the Court not to order his client to report to the Police Station, because he had to walk for ten kilometres every time, considering the fact that he had no means of transportation.

The Prosecution said that the obligation to report to the Police Station was “the only significant form of control”, adding that it stuck to its proposal in its entirety.

Ranko Mrdja and Mile Kokot are charged with having participated, together with Goran and Milorad Mrdja, as former members of the Sixth Sanska Infantry Brigade of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, in crimes against Bosniak victims, including the murders, rape, beating, robbing and other forms of mental and physical abuse, in the broader area of Sanski Most from the summer of 1992 to the autumn of 1994.

As per previous Court’s decisions, Goran Mrdja was ordered into custody, while prohibiting measures were ordered against Milorad Mrdja.

The Court will render a decision concerning extension of prohibiting measures at a later stage.