Presenting his closing statement, Aleksandar Cvetkovic’s defense attorney said Cvetkovic didn’t participate in the execution of civilians from Srebrenica on the Branjevo Farm in the municipality of Zvornik in July 1995. As such, the defense believes that their client should be acquitted of charges of participating in genocide.
Second instance verdicts pronounced by the State Court during the past year indicate that the State Prosecution has been partially successful in proving the gravest war-crimes accusations.
Testifying in defence of Radovan Karadzic, former member of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, Franc Kos says that, following the shooting of hundreds of Srebrenica Muslims on Branjevo farm, Lieutenant Colonel Ljubisa Beara praised the crime perpetrators in a café “for doing an excellent job” and promised that “the state would be grateful to them.”
Former Republika Srpska President Radovan Karadzic, who is charged with genocide in Srebrenica, presents Franc Kos as Defence witness before The Hague Tribunal. Kos confirms that, in his capacity as member of the RS Army, he participated in the shooting of hundreds of Srebrenica Muslims on Branjevo military farm, near Zvornik, in July 1995.
The ICTY and Bosnia’s state court have together convicted 27 persons for the 1995 atrocity, with nine judgments still pending before the state court.
During the cross-examination at Ratko Mladic’s trial Prosecution witness Drazen Erdemovic is not able to specify how many Srebrenica Muslims were shot on Branjevo farm, near Zvornik, in July 1995.
Prosecution witness Drazen Erdemovic confirms at Ratko Mladic’s trial that he participated, in his capacity as member of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, in the shooting of between 1,000 and 1,200 Muslim men from Srebrenica in July 1995.
The Appellate Chamber of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina reduces the sentence against Franc Kos, Stanko Kojic, Vlastimir Golijan and Zoran Goronja and sentences them to a total of 112 years in prison for crimes against humanity committed in the Srebrenica area in 1995.