NEXT WEEK: Central Bosnia Trial to Start

The beginning of the trial of  Pasko Ljubicic, former commander of 4th battalion of Croat Defence Council (HVO) military police who is charged with crimes against Bosniaks from the territory of Central Bosnia, is scheduled for Tuesday, April 10, 2007.

Ljubicic, who was transferred from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on September 22, 2006, is charged with participation in attacks, murders, psychological and physical abuse of unarmed civilians, as well as taking them to forced labour, all of which was committed on the territory of Vitez and Busovaca during 1993,at the time of armed disputes between Army of BiH and HVO.

The Prosecution has announced that it intends to question more than 50 witnesses in the evidence procedure.

Unless there is another postponement, the status conference before the beginning of trial against former members of Army of Republika Srpska (VRS), Zdravko Bozic, Mladen Blagojevic, Zeljko Zaric and Zoran Zivanovic, will be held on April 11.

The conference that was scheduled at the end of March was cancelled because one of the defence attorneys did not attend.

In12 counts of the indictment the four are charged, as former members of military police unit of Bratunac light infantry brigade of Army of Republika Srpska, that in July of 1995 they took part in the illegal detention, murders and forced relocations of Bosniak civilians in Srebrenica.

The trial of Zeljko Lelek, a policeman from Visegrad who is charged with crimes committed during 1992 against Bosniaks in this town, will be continued on Monday, April 9.

The trial of Goran and Zoran Damjanovic,who are charged with crimes committed on the territory of Sarajevo during 1992, will be continued before the War Crimes Chamber on Wednesday, April 11.

According to the indictment, in June 1992 Goran and Zoran Damjanovic, as members of VRS, were involved in the beating a group of detained Bosniak men in the Sarajevo suburb Bojnik.

The trial of Niset Ramic, a former member of territorial defence Visoko who, according to the indictment, killed four civilians and wounded two others in June 1992 in Hlapcevici village, Visoko municipality, will also continue on April 11.

The Prosecution has announced that it will present physical evidence on April 11, which would be the final phase of their evidence procedure, after which the indictee’s defence should present its opening statement.

Both the Defence and the Prosecution in the case of  Radmilo Vukovic will present their closing arguments on the same day, April 11.

The Prosecution has charged him with the rape of witness A, which was committed several times during the summer and autumn of 1992 in Foca.

After leaving the town, witness A gave birth to a male child. The Defence is denying the charges and claims that the relationship between the two was consensual.

A total of five witnesses, including witness A, were questioned at the trial, which lasted three months.

The retrial of Boban Simsic,who is charged with crimes committed on the territory of Visegrad during 1992, will continue before the Appellate Chamber of the Court of BiH next week, on Thursday and Friday, April 12 and 13.

Simsic was sentenced to five years imprisonment last year. After the verdict was announced, both sides in the process appealed, after which the retrial began in March 2007.

The trial of 11 indictees charged with genocide, which was committed in July of 1995 in Kravica village, will also be continued on April 12 and 13.

It was also announced that the process against the so-called Prijedor four, who are on trial for crimes committed in Omarska, Keraterm and Trnopolje detention camps located near Prijedor, will be continued on April 12 and 13.

Zeljko Mejakic, Momcilo Gruban, Dusko Fustar and Dusan Knezevic are charged with participation in the torture, beating, raping, murders and forced detention of civilians in the listed camps.

The trial of Kreso Lucic for crimes committed during 1993 against Bosniak civilians in the territory of Kresevo, will be continued on Thursday and Friday, April 12 and 13.