SERB REFUSES TO TESTIFY AT GENOCIDE TRIAL

Update: Dragomir Pecanac was the third most responsible person for the Srebrenica Genocide, after Ratko Mladic and Ljubisa Beara.

Photo: Dragomir Pećanac. Courtesy: ICTY.

A former security and intelligence officer in the Bosnian Serb army refused on October 10 2011 to testify in the genocide trial of his commander at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

Dragomir Pecanac faces contempt of court charges after failing to comply with a subpoena ordering him to give evidence in the trial of Zdravko Tolimir, who was an assistant commander in the Bosnian Serb army and reported directly to its leader, Ratko Mladic, the UN News Centre said.

The ICTY issued a warrant for the arrest of Pecanac late in September 2011 and he was subsequently transferred to the custody of the UN Detention Unit in The Hague, where the tribunal is based.

Making an initial appearance on October 10 in his own contempt of court case, Pecanac did not enter a plea. All accused in contempt cases must enter a plea within 10 days of their initial appearance.

Later today, during the ongoing trial of Tolimir, Pecanac refused to testify as a witness, the ICTY said in a media statement.

The trial of Tolimir – who is charged with genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, extermination, murder, persecutions, forcible transfers and deportations – continues. The charges relate to a series of events during the Balkan wars, including the notorious massacre of thousands of Bosniak men and boys at Srebrenica in July 1995.