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Bosnia: War Crimes Suspect Pleads Guilty
Sarajevo | 29 June 2009 |
Koricanske stijene
The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina will examine the plea bargain Ivankovic has made with the prosecution after he testifies against other defendants charged with crimes committed at Koricanske stjene.
Ivankovic is expected to testify on June 30, by which time the prosecution should "undertake certain actions" in order to address threats, which the defendant says have been leveled against members of his family.
Ivankovic formally pleaded guilty before the court.
"Various stories are circulating. My family is receiving phone calls; my sister is being visited at home. Everyone is avoiding me in custody," said Ivankovic in his address to the Trial Chamber.
Ivankovic made a plea bargain with the prosecution on June 22 this year, admitting to his role in the crime committed on August 21, 1992, at Koricanske stjene, when around 200 civilians from the Prijedor area were murdered.
For the same crime, the prosecution has charged Zoran Babic, Gordan Djuric, Milorad Radakovic, Milorad Skrbic, Ljubisa Cetic, Dusana Jankovic and Zeljko Stojnic, former members of the police station of Prijedor and the then-police special response team.
The plea bargain guarantees Ivankovic a prison sentence of between eight and 15 years, and obliges him to testify in all cases related to crimes committed in the area of Prijedor, Travnik and Skender Vakuf in 1992, as well as in other cases of crimes committed between 1992 and 1995.
Ivankovic promised he would apologise to families of the victims, accept all legal requests for compensation from plaintiffs, and pay fully or partially for the trial expenses.
"I want to admit that I committed a crime. I want this to be over. No one promised me anything because of this confession, this is pure conscience," Ivankovic said.
Prosecutor Slavica Terzic said that Ivankovic had admitted that as a member of the special response team, together with others, "he carried out the execution of the population in the Prijedor region."
In order to prove claims of guilt, Terzic included in the record over 100 pieces of material evidence, some of which were official confirmation of the deaths of the murdered, autopsy reports, DNA analysis of recovered bones, and lists of members of the Prijedor police special response team.
Asked by the Trial Chamber, Ivankovic said he was not taking any medication that would alter his state of mind, and that he had no prior convictions.
From BIRN Justice Report.
