Re-trial of Oric and Muhic begins

SARAJevo, (Patria) - The re-trial of Naser Oric, commander of the defense of Srebrenica, and his comrade Sabahudin Muhic begins today before the Appellate Chamber of the Court of BiH

The Appellate Chamber, presided over by Judge Tihomir Lukes, which will conduct the second-instance proceedings, overturned the first-instance verdict on June 8, by which Oric and Muhic were acquitted, and ordered a new main hearing.

The Court accepted the appeal of prosecutor Miroslav Janjic, who appealed due to, as stated, significant violations of the criminal procedure provisions and incorrectly determined factual situation. Janjic, in his appeal, among other things, stated that the first-instance verdict was "incomprehensible and contradictory in itself, as the oral pronouncement of the verdict differs from its written dispatch".

On the other hand, the defense of Oric and Muhic, represented by lawyers Lejla Čović and Sabina Mehić, requested that the Prosecutor's Office's appeal be rejected in its entirety and the acquittal be confirmed.

They stated at the time that the verdict must be identical in its oral pronouncement and written dispatch, but that this applies to the operative part of the verdict, not its reasoning.

The first-instance chamber of the Court of BiH determined in October last year that the Prosecution had not proven the allegations of the indictment, which stated that Oric and Muhic, in the villages of Zalazje, Lolići and Kunjerac, in the municipalities of Srebrenica and Bratunac, killed three prisoners of Serb nationality: Slobodan Ilić, Mitar Savić and Milutin Milošević.