Extension of Custody for Ten Suspects Requested

Prosecutor Dika Omerovic requested one-month extension of custody for Goran Maksimovic, Ljiljan Mitrovic, Radivoje Djordjic, Slavko Peric, Mile Vujevic, Vukasin Draskovic, Gojko Stevanovic, Cvjetko Popadic, Rajo Lazarevic and Mico Manojlovic, who are suspected of having killed 67 civilians in Lokanj in the summer of 1992.

Prosecutor Omerovic said that there was a danger that they might influence witnesses and accomplices and, in the case of suspects Peric and Mitrovic, a danger that they might flee, considering the fact that they had citizenship of Serbia.

“The Prosecution is close to finishing the investigation. We intend to complete it within one month,” Omerovic said, adding that she intended to examine only one more witness.

She mentioned that Miroslav Markovic and Vinko Lazic, who were in Serbia, were also under investigation for crimes committed in Lokanj.

Maksimovic, Mitrovic, Djordjic, Peric, Vujevic, Draskovic, Stevanovic, Popadic, Lazarevic and Manojlovic were arrested in mid-December over a suspicion that they participated, as members of military and police structures, in the mass persecution of the Bosniak population from Lokanj village on July 14, 1992.

Maksimovic’s Defence attorney Dusko Tomic said that the State Prosecution’s custody extension motion was “lax”, and requested the Court to release his client to liberty.

“Extending the custody measure for my client under these conditions would represent discrimination, considering the fact that there are two cases before this Court, where generals indicted for genocide are defending themselves while at liberty,” Tomic said.

Suspect Djordjic did not attend the hearing. His Defence attorney Milos Peric said that he had recently undergone surgery and that he was at hospital in Bijeljina.

“Objectively speaking, he will not be able to move, let alone communicate with anybody, for a month. I therefore hope that the custody measure will be terminated,” Peric said.

Attorney Radivoje Lazarevic, who represents suspects Vujovic and Manojlovic, said that the Prosecution of BiH examined only a few witnesses during last year and that there was no point in extending custody for the suspects if it only wanted to examine one more witness.

“The investigation has lasted five years. That is enough time to determine all the facts and examine all the witnesses. As far as my clients are concerned, there is no evidence that they tried to influence anybody in any way,” Lazarevic said.

The Court of BiH will render a decision concerning the custody extension motion at a later stage.