Backlog Due to Hague Tribunal’s Slowness

As per a request by the Defence, at the beginning of October the Trial Chamber sent a letter to the Tribunal, so it could contact about ten witnesses, who had previously testified before The Hague Tribunal under protection measures. “We are awaiting a response from The Hague Tribunal concerning protection measures for those witnesses. Despite urging them, we have still not received anything,” said Trial Chamber Chairman Darko Samardzic.
He mentioned that the process had already lasted a long time and that the indictee had been held in custody for long.Defence attorney Slavisa Prodanovic considers that it is now hard to expect an answer from the Tribunal, considering the fact that staff have already begun going on leave due to the upcoming holiday season. The defence wants to invite those witnesses to testify about the counts, charging Krsmanovic with crimes in Bikavac, where more than 70 people were set on fire alive; taking away of men from Varda Factory and the inhumane treatment of detainees in Uzamnica military barracks.The indictment charges Krsmanovic, former member of the Second Podrinje Light Infantry Brigade of the Republika Srpska Army, with having participated in the murders, rape, torture and other inhumane acts against Bosniak civilians. The continuation of the trial, which began in January 2012, is scheduled for December 24.