Jankovic enters a second not guilty plea
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Gojko Jankovic, a former member of Bosnian Serb military units, has pleaded not guilty to the crimes listed in a second indictment filed against him.
“I am not guilty,” Jankovic stated for the second time this year in front of the war crimes chamber in Sarajevo.
Earlier this year he pleaded not guilty to charges raised against him in the original indictment in which he is held responsible for war crimes committed on the territory of municipality Foca. The second indictment charges him with an additional rape of a Bosniak woman.
The Bosnian court confirmed the new indictment on July 4, 2006. It states that during the period between April 1992 and February 1993 Jankovic, as the leader of a paramilitary group “ordered, committed, assisted or encouraged the rape of one woman of Bosniak nationality”.
The prosecution claims that at the end of April and beginning of May 1992, Jankovic and two other persons forced protected witness E to sexual relations.It is claimed that Jankovic and an unidentified soldier held her, while a third person raped her.
Jankovic is already on trial for the original indictment which holds him responsible for murder of civilians, expulsion and rape of Bosniak women on the territory of municipality Foca during the same time period.
On Tuesday the prosecution filed a request for merging the two indictments,which the defence did not object to.
Judge Tuma Marie announced that the court would make a decision on merging of the two indictments as soon as possible, adding that the attorneys will not be able to file an appeal regarding that decision.
