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Ikonic, Lubarda, and Ilic were arrested on March 4. They are suspected of raping Bosniak women in Rogatica in the summer of 1992, while they were members of the Rogaticka Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army.
Prosecutor Miroslavi Janjic filed the request for custody measures to ensure that the suspects don’t attempt to influence witnesses or potential accomplices. He said more witnesses were going to be questioned in the upcoming period, and that many of them were reluctant to testify.
“Influencing the witnesses might make them give up on appearing in court to testify,” Janjic said.
He said that there were additional suspects in the case and that he planned to identify some of them in the upcoming period.
The defense objected to the prosecution’s request for custody measures, and said that if necessary prohibitive measures should be imposed instead.
“The existence of danger cannot be based on unknown witnesses and accomplices,” said Zorana Carkic, Ikonic’s defense attorney.
Dejan Bodganovic, Lubarda’s defense attorney, said that the prosecution had rushed the arrests in this case and that their custody order motion was vague and arbitrary.
“The witness who accuses Lubarda says she was alone when the suspect allegedly committed the crime. Therefore, how can he influence witnesses if there were no witnesses to the crime,” Bogdanovic said.
Prosecutor Janjic said the suspects were mentioned in statements given by protected witnesses. The defense said there wasn’t sufficient evidence for grounds to suspect that the suspects had committed the rapes.
“The prosecution will examine all of the proposed witnesses within the next thirty days and render a prosecutorial decision,” Janjic said.
The three suspects were arrested with Bozidar Perisic and Vinko Zoranovic, who are also suspected of committing crimes in Rogatica. In a separate case, the prosecution requested one month of custody for Perisic and Zoranovic, to ensure that they didn’t attempt to flee the country or influence witnesses and accomplices.
