'SREBRENICA SEVEN' TRIAL ENDS FOR PROSECUTORS, GENOCIDE JUDGMENT ANTICIPATED

"Judging by the seriousness of the crimes and the tone of the three-day closing argument it can be inferred that a life sentence was sought for most, if not all of the accused."

PHOTO: ICTY Prosecutor Peter McCloskey delivers closing arguments in the Srebrenica genocide trial.

The team of prosecutors in a trial against seven Bosnian Serbs accused of taking part in the genocide against Bosniak population of Eastern Bosnian enclaves of Srebrenica and Zepa have concluded their 3-day closing arguments. The defense teams will deliver their closing arguments next week. It is mind boggling why is the defence being given the benefit of making the last impact on the judges? Shouldn't prosecutors deliver their final arguments after the defence? Again, the international justice favors criminals, so it is unnecessary to waste time on these questions.

( For a background: New genocide judgement expected in the 'Srebrenica Seven' case. )

Here is an update -- The prosecutor Peter McCloskey said that at time of the Srebrenica massacre, Belgrade cameraman Zoran Petrovic drove by the Kravica warehouse together with Ljubomir Borovcanin. His video was edited to hide the most incriminating images, but experts were able to find some of the lost images that show bodies piled up in front of the warehouse entrance and gunfire is heard (WATCH VIDEO). "Having seen that, the prosecution contends, Borovcanin had to intervene and stop the executions that were ongoing, yet he didn’t do it. Borovcanin was bound by the Geneva conventions to do it; he is thus ‘guilty because he didn’t stop it’, the prosecution concluded."

Prosecutor McCloskey said that Vinko Pandurevic agreed to participate in the joint criminal enterprise and was not ‘motivated by a desire to save lives’ when he let a part of Bosniak column pass through on 16 July 1995. "At that moment Pandurevic hadn’t thought about Muslims at all," McCloskey argued. "There is no indication whatsoever that the killing of those men was the problem; the problem was only the fact that Pandurevic and his lads in Zvornik had to do it."

According to SENSE TRIBUNAL, "The prosecution didn’t call for specific sentences for the seven accused officers in court, choosing to address the issue in the confidential final brief. However, judging by the seriousness of the crimes and the tone of the three-day closing argument it can be inferred that a life sentence was sought for most, if not all of the accused."

PHOTO of the accused in the 'Srebrenica Seven' trial: Vujadin Popovic, Ljubisa Beara, Drago Nikolic, Ljubomir Borovcanin, Vinko Pandurevic, Radivoje Miletic and Milan Gvero.

SREBRENICA 1992-1995: From 1992-1995 Serbs from heavily militarized villages around Srebrenica had forced approximately 40,000 Bosnian Muslim refugees to live in the Srebrenica ghetto with little or no means of survival. Furthermore, Serbs around Srebrenica had terrorized Srebrenica population by constantly attacking neighbouring Bosnian Muslim villages. In July 1995 the Bosnian Serb army staged a brutal takeover of Srebrenica and its surrounding area, where they proceeded to perpetrate genocide. Bosnian Serb soldiers separated Bosniak families, forcibly expelled 25,000-30,000 Bosniaks, and summarily executed at least 8,372 Bosnian Muslims - boys, men, and elderly.