Ratko Mladic Witness Problems Delay Defence Case

Ratko Mladic’s defence lawyer Miodrag Stojanovic told BIRN on Friday that only a couple of hearings have been held at the UN war crimes court in The Hague over the past three months due to problems with getting witnesses to appear.

The Hague Tribunal told BIRN that because of the slowdown in Mladic’s trial and that presiding judge Alphons Orie has urged the defence to work on preparing its closing statement while waiting for the witnesses.

“The chamber will not approve a long period for preparation of closing statements after the end of the evidence presentation, particularly because the parties to the proceeding had the opportunity to prepare their closing statement during the course of the trial,” Orie said.

Stojanovic said the defence was close to solving its problems and intends to complete the presentation of its evidence by examining the remaining three ordinary witnesses and two expert witnesses from April 18 to 30.

Some of the remaining witnesses are former military observers from the Sarajevo and Krajina area, who are still working with NATO forces, Stojanovic said

“We had to obtain permission from NATO to invite them to testify. This took rather long, so their examination is planned in the week of April 18,” he explained.

According to Stojanovic, the process has also slowed because pathologist Dusan Dunjic, who was to testify about mass graves, died in late October last year before appearing as an expert witness.

Stojanovic said it took time to engage an adequate replacement.

“Expert witness Zoran Stankovic has finally reviewed the voluminous analysis prepared by Mr. Dunjic and agreed to defend the analysis in court, so this problem has been solved,” he said.

The defence will also examine expert witness Stankovic about additional evidence presented by the Hague prosecution concerning a mass grave that was found in the Tomasica mines near Prijedor in 2013. Demographic expert Svetlana Radovanovic will also present her findings and opinion about the grave.

Mladic is on trial for genocide in Srebrenica and seven other municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the persecution of Bosniaks and Croats throughout the country, terrorising the civilian population of Sarajevo and taking UN peacekeepers hostage.