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Branko Lukic, the main Defence counsellor of the former Chief of staff in the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS), in his presentation to the Court Council requested the Prosecution’s proposal to divide Mladic’s indictment into two parts, one of which will be related to the Srebrenica genocide, to be dismissed as unfounded.
In August this year, The Hague Prosecution requested that the valid unified indictment against Mladic be divided in two and initiate two trials out of which the first would be related to the events in Srebrenica, July 1995, and the other one to be related to genocide, crimes against humanity and the violation of the laws and customs of war from 1992 to 1995.
Mladic’s Defence emphasised that this proposal coming from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Prosecution is against the Tribunal’s rules and laws applicable during the time of alleged committed act.
Defence attorney Lukic also stressed how, by splitting the indictment into two parts, the presumption of indictee Mladic’s innocence would be questioned.
The Prosecutions request for two trials, breach the rule of equality of the sides in process because it puts the Defence in an unfavourable position. The request foresees the trial for Srebrenica to start immediately which means that the Defence’s time for a pre-debate period before the second trial will be revoked. Taking into consideration the health of indictee Mladic, he will need more and definitely not less time for preparation, it is stated in the statement.
Lukic added that if the Tribunal accepts the separation of the indictment, three to four additional Defence teams should be assigned to Mladic, in order to secure the correctness of both trials.
The proposition to separate breaches the indictees right to produce an effective defence. The Defence is stressing how the events in Sarajevo and municipalities in the indictment happened before Srebrenica. The subversion of events in time and history could lead to presentation problems. The Defence considers that it is impossible to understand the events in Srebrenica without the understanding of the events that prelude them, it is also mentioned in Mladic’s Defence statement.
Mladic was arrested in May 2011 in Serbia after being on the run for many years.
The Hague Tribunal will make the ultimate decision to separate the trial.D.Dz.
