Stanarevic Pleads not Guilty of Bihac Crimes
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“Honourable Court, I plead not guilty,” Stanarevic said.
Judge Zeljka Marenic said that the second indictee in this case – Dragan Dopudja was on the territory of Serbia and that an invitation was sent to him via the international legal aid, but she was not sure whether he would appear at a plea hearing later on.
The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, BiH, charges Stanarevic and Dopudja, former members of VRS, with having participated in murders of civilians within a widespread and systematic attack by the Army and police on Ripac, Cukovi, Orasac, Klisa and Kulen Vakuf in Bihac municipality.
The indictment alleges that, in the summer of 1992 they came, together with other VRS members, to the Police Station in Ripac, where more than 70 Bosniak civilians from that area were detained.
“The indictees and their accomplices took out and tied 11 detainees with the intention to kill the detained civilians only because of their ethnic affiliation. They transported them by truck to Bezdan natural pit location in Hrgar village, where they participated in murders of those detainees,” the indictment alleges.
The remains of 83 persons were exhumed from the pit in 1997.
The indictment was confirmed on October 2 this year.
