Savo Babic has pleaded not guilty for the crime against humanity committed in Bratunac 20 years ago.
“Honourable court, I am not guilty for any of the counts,” said 67-year old Babic before the pre-trial judge of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
According to the prosecution, Babic, as a military police commander, “ordered, committed and failed to prevent” imprisonment of non-Serb civilians in the Vuk Karadzic school in Bratunac in May 1992.
The indictment specifies that around 400 prisoners lived in fear for their lives. They were beaten and tortured daily, and several dozens of them were murdered or died as a result of the conditions in the school. Most of the mortal remains were found in the mass grave near Bratunac.
Babic was charged with having full control over lives of prisoners and conditions in the school.
He was arrested by members of the State Investigation and Protection Agency in late June, but he was released from custody a month later and put under house arrest.
The trial is due to start within the next two months.
Timeline of events in the case against 13 former Serb fighters charged with committing war crimes in the villages of Cuska, Zahac, Ljubenic and Pavlac in Kosovo in 1999.