Stanisic, Zupljanin Defence to Begin
Defence lawyers for the two accused will make respective opening statements on April 11 and call first witnesses the following day.
Stanisic, Zupljanin Defence to Begin
Defence lawyers for the two accused will make respective opening statements on April 11 and call first witnesses the following day.
The Hague tribunal this week granted the defence in the trial of former senior Bosnian Serb police officials, Mico Stanisic and Stojan Zupljanin, 166 hours for its presentation of evidence.
Zupljanin, who became an adviser to the Bosnian Serb president and Hague indictee Radovan Karadzic in 1994, is accused of extermination, murder, persecution, and deportation of non-Serbs in northwestern Bosnia between April and December 1992.
Stanisic is charged with the murder, torture and cruel treatment of non-Serb civilians, as well as for his failure to prevent or punish crimes committed by his subordinates.
Stanisic and Zupljanin are alleged to have participated in a joint criminal enterprise aimed at the permanent removal of non-Serbs from the territory of an intended Serbian state. They are accused of crimes committed between April 1 and December 31, 1992, in 20 municipalities throughout Bosnia.
They are charged with ten counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Their alleged crimes include persecution, extermination, murder, torture, inhumane acts and deportation as crimes against humanity, in addition to murder, torture and cruel treatment as violations of the laws or customs of war.
According to the indictment, the two accused are held responsible for “imposing and maintaining restrictive measures against Bosnian Muslims and Croats”, having thereby perpetrated persecution on a political, racial or religious basis, which is qualified as a crime against humanity.
Both defendants - whose indictments were joined together in September 2008 - have pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The defence lawyers of Stanisic and Zupljanin will make their respective opening statements on April 11, and are expected to call their first witnesses the next day.
At a trial conference, called before the defence begins its presentation of evidence, Presiding Judge Burton Hall read the statement, adding that additional time for presentation of witness testimonies may be permitted, should the need arise.
The names of neither of the defendants were included in the initial list of submitted witnesses. Although they are not now scheduled to testify in their own defence, their teams may subsequently present a request to have them take the stand.
The defence of Stanisic, the first minister of internal affairs in the Bosnian Serb government, was given 102 hours to present its case. For three of the 11 planned witnesses who are due to be examined as main witnesses, the defence was accorded 20 chamber hours each.
Zupljanin will have his defence examine 24 witnesses over a total of 64 hours.
Stanisic surrendered to the Hague tribunal in March 2005. Zupljanin was in hiding until June that same year, when he was arrested in the town of Pancevo just outside the Serbian capital Belgrade. The trial began on September 14, 2009 and will continue next week.
Velma Saric is an IWPR-trained journalist in Sarajevo.
