MOMIR PELEMIS & SLAVKO PERIC PLEAD NOT GUILTY IN SREBRENICA GENOCIDE TRIAL

PHOTO: Forensic experts in 1996 working in a Srebrenica Genocide mass grave in the village of Pilica. Two Srebrenica Genocide suspects, Momir Pelemis and Slavko Peric, are on trial for taking part in mass executions of Bosniaks at this location.

At the plea hearing before the Section I for War Crimes of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in the Momir Pelemiš et. al. , the Accused Momir Pelemiš and Slavko Perić (photo on the left) pleaded not guilty. Momir Pelemiš and Slavko Perić are charged with the criminal offence of Genocide.

The two men were accused of taking part in mass executions in the village of Pilica, where one of the largest mass graves was found, and at the military cooperative at Branjevo.

The Indictment inter alia alleges that during the period between 10 July and 1 November 1995, the Accused Momir Pelemiš and Slavko Perić, along with other members of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) and Republika Srpska Ministry of Internal Affairs (RS MUP), knowingly participated in the joint criminal enterprise. Its purpose was, to permanently and forcibly transfer Bosniak civilian population from the UN safe area of Srebrenica, and in doing so, to summarily execute and bury able-bodied Bosniak men.

According to the Indictment, Pelemiš and Perić planned, perpetrated, instigated, ordered, aided and abetted in the killings. By forcible transfer of the Bosniak civilian population outside the territory of Republika Srpska, they caused serious physical or mental harm to members of the group, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part. By doing so, as alleged in the Indictment, they committed the criminal offence of Genocide.

In Bosnia-Herzegovina, 26 Bosnian Serbs have been put on trial over Srebrenica. Eleven have been jailed, seven acquitted and eight are still being tried.