Prosecutors Seek to Sever Trbic Case

Under the current arrangement, Trbic is formally due to face trial in The Hague for his alleged part in the massacre along with his seven co-accused next month. The proceedings would then get going properly later in the year, after the tribunal’s summer break.



But judges are still considering the request, filed by the prosecution in May, for Trbic to be tried in Bosnia, instead.



In a document filed on June 21, prosecutor Peter McCloskey revealed publicly that several days earlier, his office had asked confidentially for Trbic’s case to be split from the proceedings against his co-accused. This latest move, he said, was intended to avoid the possibility that the outstanding motion to transfer him to Bosnia could delay the start of their trial in The Hague.



It was necessary for the request to sever Trbic’s case to remain under wraps, he said, “due to information of a sensitive and confidential nature contained or referred to in the filing”.



A ninth individual, Zdravko Tolimir, is also included on the same joint indictment as Trbic and his co-accused. He remains on the run.