Stanarevic Trial Begins
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Stanarevic, a former military police officer with the 15th Bihacka Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army, has been accused of participating in the persecution of Bosniak civilians. The persecution occurred as part of a widespread and systematic attack planned by the Bosnian Serb Army and police forces on Ripac, Cukovi, Orasac, Klisa and Kulen-Vakuf in the municipality of Bihac.
Stanarevic allegedly participated in the murder of 11 prisoners who were detained in a detention camp in Ripac between June 24, 1992 until the first half of July 1992. He allegedly drove the prisoners to the Bezdan Pit with other members of the Bosnian Serb Army, where he killed four people and participated in dumping their bodies into the pit.
The remains of 83 people were exhumed from the Bezdan Pit in 1997, and included the remains of the 11 people who were taken away from the Ripac detention camp.
In his introductory statement, prosecutor Emir Neradin said he intended to prove that the defendant deliberately participated in the murders and aimed to create a Serbian breakaway state.
Neradin said he would call upon local residents from the area to testify on the separatist aims of Bosnian Serb forces in the area and the persecution non-Serb ethnicities experienced as a result. He said 6,000 Bosniaks had been deported from the area.
Neradin also said members of the public safety station in Bihac who guarded the detainees would testify about the arrival of military police in Ripac and identify the defendant. Neradin said these witnesses had seen Stanarevic ordering detainees onto trucks and beating them.
The defense said the indictment against Stanarevic was premature and imprecise, and said the investigation was of a low quality.
In September of last year Dragan Dopudja was indicted for the same crime, along with Stanarevic. Data available to the Bosnian state prosecution indicates that Dopudja is in Serbia.
In March 2015 the prosecution asked the court to postpone the trial against Stanarevic for one month, since they expected Dopudja to be extradited from Serbia. The second defendant wasn’t mentioned at today’s hearing.
The first prosecution witness will be examined on June 29.
