Bosnian Prosecutor in Naser Oric Case Threatened

State prosecutor Miroslav Janjic told BIRN on Monday that he has received threats from one of the witnesses who testified in the case against former Bosnian Army commander Naser Oric, who was initially acquitted of war crimes.

“I received death threats in written form around 20 days ago. The death threats were extended to me and my family members. The threats came from a witness who testified in the Naser Oric case in the previous period,” Janjic said.

Janjic said he reported the threats he said he received from the witness who lives abroad to the state prosecution and the State Investigation and Protection Agency.

Oric’s defence lawyer Lejla Covic told BIRN that she also received threats from the same witness, as did her client Oric.

“We have received the same threats from this prosecution witness… They have been ongoing for the past six months,” Covic said.

In October last year, the Bosnian state court acquitted Oric, the former Bosnian Army commander in Srebrenica, and his former subordinate Sabahudin Muhic of killing three Serb captives in the villages of Zalazje, Lolici and Kunjerac, near Srebrenica, in 1992.

In June this year, the appeals chamber quashed the verdict and ordered a retrial, which is due to start this month.

Over the course of the past two months, Bosnian judicial officials have received threats on several occasions.

On Friday, the state court sent a letter to the state prosecution about death threats sent to its president Ranko Debevec and other judges and managers of state-level judicial institutions in July and August.

The court expressed concern that the crime has still not been solved although it was committed more than a month ago.

Debevec told BIRN at the time that he received a text message beginning with the word “fatwa”, which insulted him and said: “You are sentenced to death for your cooperation with the Mossad [Israeli intelligence agency].”

Bosnia’s judicial overseer, the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council, HJPC, said at the time that threats to holders of judicial officials “have recently become frequent”.

At the beginning of August, threats were sent to some members of the HJPC as well, while Milan Tegeltija, the president of the HJPC, received death threats in May.