Srebrenica Genocide Trial Continues

Jean Gagnon, witness for the Bosnian State Court, said that while working for the Hague Tribunal’s prosecution office he investigated crimes in Srebrenica committed in July 1995. Dusko Jevic and Mendeljev Djuric, the witness explained, were summoned to the UN office in Banja Luka in 2000, because they had been identified on the video recording as having been present in Potocari in July 1995.Jevic’s defence said that the transcript from the interrogation does not specify that Jevic was told he was a suspect nor whether he was informed of his rights.The witness said that he asked the indictees during the interrogation whether they needed a lawyer, but Jevic and Djuric declined.”They were offered the presence of a legal advisor and in my opinion they understood what that means. They were replying to questions freely. There was no pressure,” said Gagnon.Dusko Jevic, Mendeljev Djuric, Goran Markovic and Nedjo Ikonic are charged with taking part in the forced expulsion of the Bosniak population from the territory of Srebrenica, as well as with the murder of around 1,000 men in Kravica.According to the indictment, Jevic was commander of the Training Centre Jahorina for the Special Police Brigade of Republika Srpska (RS), Djuric and Ikonic were company commanders, and Markovic a platoon commander.The witness said that after the interrogation he had told Jevic and Djuric that the deposition they had given could be used in courts and that they would get a transcript.Djuric’s lawyer, Miodrag Stojanovic, claimed that the transcript of the deposition did not say that the witness informed the indictee that he had been a suspect.”The summons specified Djuric should come in as a suspect. I cannot remember who exactly said that he had the status of a suspect, but that is usually a team decision. The prosecutor must approve that decision,” Jean Gagnon said, adding that he himself did not see the written summons.The trial is set to resume on Monday, February 27.