Bosnia to Detain Srebrenica Defendant for Flouting Media Ban

Milomir Savcic and his lawyer Miodrag Stojanovic outside the Bosnian state court in Sarajevo. Photo: BIRN.

The Bosnian state court on Monday ordered Milomir Savcic, the wartime commander of the 65th Protective Motorised Regiment of the Bosnian Serb Army’s Main Headquarters, to be remanded in custody for breaching a court order prohibiting him from speaking publicly about issues related to the charges against him, his lawyer told BIRN.

Savcic, who is also the head of the Veterans’ Association in Bosnia’s Serb-dominated Republika Srpska entity, is on trial for assisting in the commission of the genocide of Bosniaks from Srebrenica in July 1995.

The prosecution argued at Monday’s hearing that Savcic had violated the prohibition order in four recent media appearances.

Savcic spoke to Radio-Television Republika Srpska, RTRS and other media outlets about the anniversary of the Srebrenica massacres and the imposition last month of legal changes banning the denial of genocide.

The legal changes were imposed by outgoing High Representative Valentine Inzko, the international official who oversees implementation of the peace deal that ended the 1992-95 Bosnian war.

They outlaw the public denial, condoning, trivialisation or justification of genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes when this is done in a way that is “likely to incite to violence or hatred”. They also prohibit the glorification of war criminals.

Bosnian Serb political leaders reject the classification of the Srebrenica massacres as genocide and have vowed to contest the ban imposed by Inzko.

Speaking to RTRS, Savcic called for the ban to be overturned.

“We have never disputed that a crime happened and we ourselves have demanded that those responsible for it be held accountable, but we cannot accept something that absolutely did not happen and that is not true,” he said, according to N1 TV.

The defence argued in court that under the European Convention on Human Rights, Savcic was allowed to express his personal opinions and had not breached the measure banning him from speaking about his own case.

Savcic’s lawyer Miodrag Stojanovic told BIRN that he will appeal against the custody remand.

Savcic is being tried for having planned, commanded and supervised the activities of members of the 65th Protective Motorised Regiment during the capture, detention, abuse and murder of several hundred Bosniak men from Srebrenica at several locations in Nova Kasaba in July 1995.

The massacre was one of several that international and domestic Bosnian courts have classified as genocide.