Full text available at: http://iwpr.

net/report-news/prosecutors-request-mladic-n
otebooks
Prosecutors Request Mladic Notebooks
Submission in Stanicic and Simatovic case says diaries of former Bosnian Serb co
mmander contain evidence of joint criminal enterprise.
By Velma Saric - International Justice - ICTY
TRI Issue 674,
17 Dec 10
Prosecutors filed a motion this week seeking to tender into evidence parts of Ha
gue indictee Ratko Mladic’s diaries in the trial of former high-ranking Serbian of
ficials Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic.
The defence team for Stanisic asked for a postponement of the trial for at least
one month so as to study in detail the parts of Mladic’s notebooks which the pros
ecution asked to have included into evidence.
Stanisic and Simatovic, former State Security Service, DB, officers, have been c
harged with participating in a joint criminal enterprise, with the objective of
forcibly and permanently removing non-Serbs from large areas of Croatia and Bosn
ia through persecution, murder and deportation of the Croat, Bosnian Muslim and
Bosnian Croat populations.
The 21 proposed extracts from Mladic’s notebooks, according to the prosecution, “poi
nt out the existence of a joint criminal enterprise with the aim of establishing
ethnically clean areas in parts of Croatia and [Bosnia], and the participation
of the accused Stanisic and Simatovic in them”.
The journal extracts belong to material seized by Serbian authorities last Febru
ary from family members of Mladic, the commander of the main staff of the Bosnia
n Serb army from 1992 to 1996, who is wanted for genocide, war crimes and crimes
against humanity.
The prosecution contended that there were several reasons why the diaries were r
elevant, alleging that they show there was communication and cooperation between
the participants of the joint criminal enterprise.
Apart from proving the existence of the joint criminal enterprise and its purpos
e, the diaries show that Stanisic was much more than just a mediator between Bel
grade and the Serbs in Bosnia and Krajina, the prosecution argues.
The motion notes that the authenticity of Mladic’s diaries is unquestioned as they
were confiscated in an apartment belonging to Mladic’s wife. Mladic’s long-term ass
ociate Manojlo Milovanovic testified in the trial and identified the handwriting
of the former commander.
In this week’s hearing, the lawyer for Stanisic, Wayne Jordash, said that the defe
nce sought to postpone the trial for at least a month in order to familiarise it
self with the notebook extracts.
“The defence considers this to be a very reasonable request, because it is simply
not possible to study in a due way 4,000 pages and 120 tapes and deal with this
complicated trial at the same time,” he said. “Nobody in my team had the opportunity
to hear any of the tapes, and nobody in the team has had the time to study Mlad
ic s notebooks.”
Presiding Judge Alphons Orie said that the chamber asked for the submissions of
the defence in writing.
“We definitely have to hear about this more, and certainly we need to hear answers
from the prosecutor,” Judge Orie said. “We need to know whether the parties to this
trial think that the time sought by the defence is available with regard to wit
nesses to be brought to this trial.”
He added that the prosecutor would not be given much time to respond to the requ
est by the defence.
“[The prosecution] should have been expecting such a request, because similar thin
gs have happened before, in other cases,” he added.
Prosecutors in the cases of Serbian nationalist politician Vojislav Seselj, and
former Bosnian Serb interior ministry officials Mico Stanisic and Stojan Zupljan
in, are also seeking to enter the notebooks as exhibits in those trials.
The Jovica Stanisic and Simatovic trial will continue after the winter break.
Velma Saric is an IWPR-trained journalist in Sarajevo.