Hague Tribunal Judge Will Consider Motion to Discontinue Oric Proceedings

The Bosnian state prosecution has charged Oric, a former commander of Bosnian Army units in Srebrenica, with killing three Serb prisoners of war in the vicinity of Bratunac and Srebrenica. The Bosnian state court confirmed the indictment against Oric in September 2015. Sabahudin Muhic has also been charged with this crime.

The motion, which the defense filed on November 6, has been assigned to judge Liu Daqun.

Oric’s defense attorneys, Vasvija Vidovic and John Jones, called upon the Hague Tribunal to order the Bosnian state court to discontinue the proceedings against their client, on the grounds that the tribunal has already tried him for the same crime.

Vidovic and Jones said the tribunal handed down a second instance verdict in 2008 which found Oric not guilty of war crimes in the Srebrenica area. They said their client couldn’t stand trial twice for the same crime.

Vidovic and Jones asked the tribunal to appoint a special chamber to consider its request. They said the prohibitive measures which had been ordered against Oric negatively affected his private and professional life.

“In addition to the possibility of being tried for the same crime twice, these measures create uncertainty in Oric’s life, which should have stopped once the Hague Tribunal had handed down the verdict of release,” the defense attorneys said.