Non-processing of War Crimes

The documents were included in the case file during the examination of witness Savo Bojanovic, who was a judge with the Court Martial in Bijeljina until the end of 1993.
 
Bojanovic explained that courts martial were formed with corps commands and that they submitted reports to the Supreme Court Martial with the Main Headquarters of VRS, which, in turn, reported to the Main Headquarters, Government and President of Republika Srpska, RS.
 
Mladic, former Commander of the Main Headquarters of VRS, is charged with having made a significant contribution to removing the Muslim and Croat population in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
 
According to the charges, Mladic is responsible for this crime, because, among other things, he failed to undertake the appropriate steps in order to conduct investigations into crimes and punish their perpetrators.
 
The Prosecution examined witness Bojanovic about the steps undertaken in concrete investigations into the murders, rape and robbing of the non-Serb population.
 
Calling on the presented documents, the Prosecution pointed to the allegations, saying that murder suspects were released from custody prior to the filing of indictments against them and that individuals were sentenced to five or less years in prison for having committed murders.
 
When asked why conditional sentences were pronounced for robbery, witness Bojanovic said that such a stand regarding the punishment policy was taken at a Criminal Chamber’s session.
 
“We considered that conditional sentences could fulfill the purpose of punishment, mostly due to the fact that the perpetrators were members of VRS, which means that, had imprisonment sentences been pronounced against them, military power would have been weakened,” Bojanovic explained, adding that imprisonment sentences were pronounced in some cases.
 
He confirmed that, during the war nobody was indicted for war crimes for having committed crimes against the non-Serb population.
 
Mladic is also charged with genocide in Srebrenica, terror against the local population in Sarajevo, taking UNPROFOR members hostage, as well as persecution, which reached the scale of genocide in several municipalities, including Kljuc. 
 
The indictment makes a specific mention of crimes committed in Kljuc in the period from May to June 1992. The Defence presented Dusan Kukobat as its witness at this hearing. The former Chief of Headquarters of the 17th Infantry Brigade in Kljuc testified about events that took place after August 19, 1992.
 
While being cross-examined, he said that the Brigade’s zone of responsibility was on the frontlines, not in the town during his term.
 
“I did not get information about what was happening in the town. We did not discuss that either. I only heard about it after the war, but I was not a direct witness of those events,” Kukobat said.
 
The Prosecution mentioned that, so far four members of that Brigade have been sentenced or indicted.
 
A new witness is due to appear before judges at the next hearing scheduled for Monday, November 10.