The Hague Tribunal rejected the request of the Defense of Naser Orić for the discontinuation of the proceedings instituted against him before the Court of B&H.
The request by Orić’s attorneys for the discontinuation of the proceedings against him for war crimes at the territory of Bratunac and Srebrenica, since he has already been before the court in Hague for same criminal offenses, was rejected by the judge of the Mechanism for international tribunals in Hague Lin Daqun.
In the decision, Daqin stated that Orić has been acquitted of the charges of command responsibility for the murder of one person at the police station Srebrenica and six more persons at the local municipality building, while he is currently charged with personally killing one person in the village of Zalazje, as well as with participation in the killing of two persons in Bratunac together with another member of the Army of the Republic of B&H (ARBiH).
“I consider that in this current situation the charges in the indictment in B&H related to murders significantly differ from the charges in Hague, when the manner, time and place of the alleged crimes are compared,” Daqun stated.
The Defense requested from the Hague Tribunal to order the Court of B&H the discontinuation of proceedings against Orić since he believes he has already been on trial for those crimes in front of the Tribunal.
Defense attorneys Vasvija Vidović and John Jones requested last month that the court in Hague orders the Court of B&H to cancel the indictment against Orić since in 2008 he was finally acquitted of guilt for crimes at the territory of Srebrenica and thus he cannot be tried twice for the same crime.
Orić was charged by the Prosecutor’s Office of B&H as the former commandant of units of the ARBiH in Srebrenica. The indictment, which was confirmed by the Court of B&H in September, charges him and Sabahudin Muhić for the murder of three war imprisoners of Serb nationality at the territory of Srebrenica and Bratunac.
Orić pleaded not guilty in October this year, and the Court of B&H announced that the exact date of the beginning of the trial will be defined after The Hague reaches a decision; BIRN – Justice Report reported.
(Source: klix.ba)
