The trial of five members of the Serb para-military formation “Scorpions” for murder of six imprisoned Bosnian Muslims from Srebrenica in July 1995 started yesterday before the Belgrade District Court War Crimes Chamber. Slobodan Medic, Pero Petrasevic, Aleksandar Medic, Aleksandar Vukov and Branislav Medic have been indicted for this crime. They were arrested this year and accused of war crimes after the International War Crimes Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague had presented, at the beginning of June, a video showing the murders. (21-DEC-05)

Indictment
The War Crimes Prosecution has charged Slobodan Medic, Pero Petrasevic, Aleksandar Medic, Aleksandar Vukov and Branislav Medic for murders of six Bosnian Muslims from Srebrenica on 16 or 17 July 1995 in Godinjske bare, near Trnovo. After exhumation of bodies of the six Muslim victims, DNA analysis was used for identification of Azmir Alispahic (aged 17) and Safet Fejzic (aged 17), and Sadik Saltic (aged 36), while the families recognised Smail Ibrahimovic and Fadil Salkic on the video. Identity of the last victim remains unknown. The video footage of the crime was made by one of the unit members. The Scoprions unit was under command of the Republika Srpska Army and the Srpska Krajina Army.

Arrested after the footage was shown in public
The former members of the Serb para-military group were arrested this year and indicted for war crimes after the footage of murders was shown at the beginning of June in the International War Crimes Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague  and was afterwards rebroadcast by TV stations in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The indictees are facing 40 years of prison if proclaimed guilty. Serbia had abolished the death penalty.

The amateur footage made by Serb soldiers in the vicinity of Srebrenica shows six Bosnian Muslims being taken out of a truck with hands tied behind their backs and lined up. Four are shown being killed from the back, while the other two are ordered to move the bodies to another place, where they are killed by gunfire.

The footage, which led to a public outcry both in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, was first shown at the trial of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, who is indicted for genocide committed by Serb troops in the Bosnian and other Balkans wars.

Almost eight thousand men and boys were killed when the Bosnian Serb troops conquered Srebrenica in July 1995. That has been the worst mass murder in Europe since the Second World War.

Belief in justice
“There is no death penalty, but I hope justice will find these monsters”, Sajma Saltic, whose brother Sadik (aged 36) was one of the six murdered Bosnian Muslims, said before entering the crowded courtroom in the Belgrade special court for war crimes. Those members of families of killed Srebrenica citizens who came to the Belgrade court said they expected a fair trial.

“I have never heard of the murder”
In his defence, the first-indicted commander of the Scorpions, Slobodan Medic, said that he had not heard of the murder of six Bosnian Muslims in Godinjske bare, near Trnovo, in July 1995, until the video footage of the crime was shown to the public at the beginning of July this year. He said he had not ordered shooting of inmates, that he had never imprisoned people in battles and that he had killed only when in situation to kill. He said that the six citizens of Srebrenica were supposed to be exchanged for Serb prisoners, but that this did not happen because the Serbs were killed.

The defence lawyers requested the video to be excluded from the court files, claiming that it is obviously not an original but a copy that cannot by law be examined as evidence. Stating that the investigation reports made on the basis of the footage cannot be accepted either, they requested hearing of the Director of the Humanitarian Law Centre, Natasa Kandic, about the ways she acquired the material. The defence’s motions against presence of Natasa Kandic at the trial as the representative of the victims’ families, as she would be questioned as a witness about the circumstances of acquisition of the video showing murder of six people from Srebrenica, was rejected by the panel of judges.

Trial is great importance for judiciary
“This trial is of great importance for our judiciary as we want to prove that we can process the most serious cases resulting from the (Balkans) wars”, Bruno Vekaric, the spokesperson of the Serbian war crimes prosecution, said. He added that the list of indictees in the “Scoprions” case is not final yet.