Proceedings Against Pero Kovacevic Continue after Seven Years
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In 2008 the appeals court repealed a verdict which acquitted Kovacevic of charges of war crimes in the Brcko area.
Kovacevic failed to appear at his retrial, and an international warrant was issued for him. He was arrested in Slovenia in October 2015.
During a pretrial hearing held today, prosecutor Radmilo Ivanovic said he planned to invite 14 additional witnesses and to include material documentation in the case file.
Trial chamber chair Srdjan Nedic rejected a proposal by the prosecution to invite eight out of the 34 witnesses, who testified at the first instance trial, to testify again.
He said that apart from the reading of the indictment, all the testimony and material documentation presented during the first instance trial would be included in the case file at the hearing scheduled for December 24.
Kovacevic is charged with robbery and the murder of four Serb women from the Srebrenik and Gradacac area. The women were placed under his custody in October 1994, in order to ensure their transfer to the municipality of Brcko, which was under the control of the Bosnian Serb Army.
On November 30, Kovacevic was ordered into two months of custody.