The prosecution’s closest statement called for the jailing of former Bosnian Serb military policeman Momcilo Tesic, who is charged with aiding the Srebrenica genocide in July 1995.
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Momcilo Tesic (right) with his lawyer outside court. Photo: BIRN.
Presenting its closing statement to the Bosnian state court on Friday, the prosecution said it had proved during the trial that Momcilo Tesic, a former military policeman with the Bosnian Serb Army’s Vlasenica Brigade, is guilty of participating in the murders of 21 Bosniak men from Srebrenica in July 1995.
The victims were killed after being separated by Bosnian Serb forces from a convoy transporting civilians after the fall of Srebrenica on July 11 in the village of Luke in the Vlasenica municipality.
“The prosecution thinks there is only one conclusion, and that is that the defendant is found responsible. We request that he be sentenced to a maximum prison term,” prosecutor Predrag Tomic said.
Tomic said there was not a single mitigating circumstance to count in the defendant’s favour. Aggravating circumstances include the number of victims and the fact that the defendant did not try to save a single life, but actually chased after a man who was trying to escape, the prosecutor added.
He said that the killings happened after the Bosnian Serb Army’s attack on Srebrenica, which led to the expulsion of 40,000 civilians and murders of more than 8,000 men.
He explained that on July 12 and 13 in the village of Luke, members of the Vlasenica Brigade halted convoys of Bosniaks, and recalled witness testimonies about how Bosniak men, mostly injured people, as well as a group of women, were separated from the convoys. Some of the women were raped.
He said that witnesses saw Vlasenica Brigade commander Mile Kosoric and members of the military police in Luke, including Tesic, as well as senior officers of the Bosnian Serb Army.
The captured men were beaten up, then loaded onto a truck and later killed.
“Tesic was in Luke all the time after the arrival of the civilians. It was known to him why the men were being separated [from the others]… He acted with direct premeditation,” the prosecutor said.
Kosoric was originally on trial with Tesic, but the proceedings against him were separated because he fell ill.
The defence is due to present its closing statement on September 7.
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