Neskovic and Ilic: Prosecutor’s Credibility Questionable

Trial Chamber Chairwoman Minka Kreho said that the witnesses had already been examined at other trials before the indictment against Neskovic and Ilic was confirmed, so they were not unavailable as said by Prosecutor Erik Larson.

“It does not mean that they were not available to the Prosecution, but that you did not know about them. It is completely unclear how a witness can be considered unavailable, knowing that he was examined at other trials prior to the confirmation of the indictment. The Prosecutor’s credibility has been brought into question,” Kreho said, addressing Prosecutor Larson.

The Trial Chamber did not accept a proposal for the examination of additional witness Milivoje Batinica either. By examining him, the Prosecutor wanted to deny a statement given by protected witness NI101, who previously testified for the Prosecution. Kreho said that, according to the Law on Criminal Proceedings of Bosnia and Herzegovina, it was not allowed to deny your own evidence.

Testifying in September last year, protected witness NI101 denied that indictee Ilic killed a captive in the vicinity of Srebrenica in July 1995, saying that a person named Simo committed the murder.

According to the charges, Ilic, former member of the Jahorina Training Centre with the special police forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Republika Srpska, MUP of RS, killed a captive in Jelah village on July 17, 1995.

Ilic and Neskovic, former members of the Jahorina Training Centre, are charged with having participated in the capture of men from Srebrenica, who were then taken in groups to the Agricultural Co-operative in Kravica, near Bratunac, where they were killed. According to the charges, Ilic shot at the prisoners, who had already been shot, from an automatic gun.

Protected witness NI121, former member of the Center on Mount Jahorina, testified for the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina at this hearing. The witness said that he was in the field in the Srebrenica area in July 1995, but his superiors did not ask him to undertake “any concrete actions” in Kravica.

He said that he was member of a squad led by Goran Markovic, whom the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina acquitted of the charges for genocide in Srebrenica in May this year. The witness said that commanders of three Squad sections had been arrested in Serbia and brought to the Training Centre on Jahorina.

Protected witness NI121 said that “deserters” could not give orders to other members of the Jahorina Centre.

The trial is due to continue on June 27, when the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina will present material evidence and file a revised indictment.
A.J.