The Court of BiH issued an international warrant for Milenko Živanović, who is already on trial in Serbia.
The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has issued an international warrant for the retired commander of the Drina Corps, Milenko Živanović, who is accused of participating in the genocide committed against the Bosniaks of Srebrenica in July 1995, and who is already on trial in Serbia, as announced in Bosnia and Herzegovina. the media.
As the Detektor.ba portal writes, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina confirmed that a warrant was issued for Živanović because he did not appear three times at the hearings scheduled to plead whether he felt guilty under the indictment brought against him by the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina in December 2021.
Every time the court sent him a binding summons, Živanović was not at the address in Serbia where he registered his residence.
During the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Živanović was the commander of the so-called of the Drina Corps of the Republika Srpska army, and he also held the position during the planning of the attack on the protected zone of Srebrenica, after the fall of which more than eight thousand Bosniaks, mostly men and boys, were killed.
The attack on Srebrenica itself was commanded by General Radislav Krstić, who formally succeeded Živanović on July 15, 1995.
In 2004, Krstić was sentenced to 35 years in prison after the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) found him guilty of the Srebrenica genocide.
Judicial process in Serbia as well
The Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina charges Zivanović with participating in a wide and systematic attack against the Bosniak civilian population of the protected zones of Srebrenica and Zepa, that is, with the operation of permanent and forced relocation of the civilian population from those zones and the capture and liquidation of around eight thousand Bosniaks.
The court proceedings against Živanović are also being conducted in Serbia, where he is accused of the criminal offense of forcible transfer of the civilian population from Srebrenica, and the trial is ongoing.
This indictment was brought immediately after Živanović was also indicted by the BiH Prosecutor’s Office. According to the content of that indictment, he is responsible for less serious war crimes, so he can receive a significantly lighter sentence if he were convicted in Serbia.
In a statement before the High Court in Belgrade in November 2022, Živanović claimed that he was not guilty because he planned and commanded only military operations and not actions directed against civilians.
He also defended himself by claiming that he forbade members of the Bosnian Serb army to enter Srebrenica, but that no one respected his alleged command.
Source : AL JAZEERA
