Local Justice – Milanovic: Indictee in Poor Health

Refik Serdarevic, Defence attorney of the indictee, said that Milanovic, who lives in Austria, informed him that he was in poor health and that he was therefore not able to attend the trial.

“I shall provide the Court with a certificate issued by the medical institution where my client was treated,” Serdarevic said.

The Defence informed the Trial Chamber that it would submit motions, requesting the Federal Prosecutor’s Office to disclose all pieces of evidence that were relevant for this case, and a proposed list of new witnesses to be examined at the retrial.

Indictee Milanovic did not appear at a hearing scheduled for February 8 this year either.

In November 2008 the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo acquitted Milanovic of the charges that he beat a Bosniak prisoner in the Bunker detention camp where he worked as a guard, in Semizovac, Vogosca municipality, and that he enabled members of the military and paramilitary formations to enter the detention camp and abuse civilians.
The Supreme Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina quashed the verdict in April 2011 and ordered a retrial.

Milanovic, who has the citizenship of Austria, was arrested in July 2007 as per a warrant issued by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Once the State Court had confirmed the indictment, it referred the case to the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo. Following the pronouncement of the first instance verdict of release, the indictee was released from custody.

A new hearing has been scheduled for February 11, 2013.
S.U.