Bosnian Serb Soldiers Tried for Raping Teenage Girl

The trial of Bosiljko and Ostoja Markovic, former members of the Kotor-Varos Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army, began on Tuesday at the Bosnian state court with the reading of the indictment charging them with raping a minor in the north-western municipality of Kotor Varos.

“The indictees waited in a mini-van, while two people took the minor from her house and pushed her into the mini-van. The two indictees and another person raped [the victim] several times, while the vehicle was moving, which lasted four hours,” prosecutor Dragan Corlija said.

Corlija said that he intended to examine 11 witnesses and present 70 pieces of material evidence in order to prove the indictees’ guilt.

Defence lawyers Nebojsa Pantic and Zoran Bubic said however that they believed that the state prosecution would not prove that their clients committed the crime.

Both men have pleaded not guilty. Although they share the same surname, they are not related.

The first prosecution witnesses are due to give evidence on September 2.