Fugitive Bosnian Serb General’s Trial Delayed in Serbia
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Belgrade’s Special Court on Wednesday postponed the trial of Novak Djukic after both the Serbian prosecution and Djukic’s lawyer agreed that without the files of his verdict from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former general cannot prepare his testimony properly.
“The transcripts are important so I can prepare my defence,” Djukic said.
His lawyer Milorad Konstantinovic said that files were necessary to establish whether Djukic had a fair trial in Bosnia and Herzegovina or not.
“The defence has some indications that the trial was not fair,” Konstantinovic said.
Djukic, the former commander of the Bosnian Serb Army’s Ozren Tactical Group, was sentenced by the Bosnian state court to 20 years in prison in June 2014 for ordering an artillery squad to shell the town of Tuzla on May 25, 1995.
Seventy-one people were killed in the attack.
But the former general did not turn up to serve his sentence, claiming he was having medical treatment in Serbia. He has not returned to Bosnia since.
Bosnia issued an international arrest warrant in October 2014, but Djukic cannot be extradited to Bosnia because of his Serbian citizenship. The two countries have no mutual extradition treaty.
However, he could be jailed in Serbia, which signed an agreement with Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2010 which allows Sarajevo and Belgrade to ask each other to take over the enforcement of sentences.
