First Court in Belgrade exonerated ten people accused for helping hide the former commander of the Army of the Republic of Serbia, Ratko Mladic during the period from 2002 to 2006.
A spokesman for the First Court in Belgrade Ivana Ramić said that the indictment was rejected because “of absolute statute of limitations”.
“This is the second instance verdict in this case, since the first, in which the accused were exonerated or the charges were rejected due to obsolescence, was abolished, the trial was repeated by order of the Court of Appeal. In today’s judgment, the Prosecution has the right to file in a complaint and then the court of Appeal can issue the final verdict” explained Ramić.
The verdict freed Stanko Ristić, Ljiljana Vasković, Borislav Ivanović, Predrag Ristić, Saša Badnjar, Ratko Vucetić, Tatjana Vasković-Janjušević, Bojan Vasković, Marko Lugonja and Blagoje Govedarica.
They were accused for helping Ratko Mladić hide during different periods from 2002 to 2006, even though they knew that the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) issued a warrant for his arrest.
Previously designated officer of the Army of the Republic of Serbia, Jovo Đogo, was the main organizer of the accomplices but he died during the process.
Ratko Mladić, the former general of the Army is accused for the genocide committed in 1992 in the seven Bosnian municipalities, as well as genocide in Srebrenica in 1995, terrorizing the citizens of Sarajevo and taking UNPROFOR members as hostages.
(Source: BIRN)
