4 March 2008
News
Radmilo Vukovic: Court to present its evidence
BIRN BiH
Prior to the start of the retrial of Radmilo Vukovic, the Appellate Chamber has set the dates of the hearings and announced that the Court would present its evidence.
The Appellate Chamber of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina announced that additional court evidence would be presented at the retrial of Radmilo Vukovic, charged with crime against civilians.
Upholding the appeals filed by the indictee and his Defence attorney, the Appellate Chamber revoked the first instance verdict and ordered a retrial, which is due to commence on March 31 this year.
The first instance verdict sentenced Vukovic to five and a half years imprisonment for having physically mistreated and raped, on several occasions, a female person, while threatening her with a gun, in Foca in the summer of 1992. At that time he was a member of the former Serbian Republic of BiH military forces.
"Up to date we have not had the necessary conditions for conducting the retrial, as the Chamber's composition has changed and because some international judges have departed. The composition of the Chamber is different from the one which rendered the decision concerning the appeal," Appellate Chamber Chairwoman Azra Miletic explained.
Apart from the Chairwoman, the Appellate Chamber consists of Dragomir Vukoje, a judge from BiH, and Robert Carolan from the United States of America. The parties to the proceeding did not object the composition of the Chamber.
Miletic also said that during the retrial, 15 hours of audio recordings will be heard and one more witness will be examined "as the Court's evidence".