Balkans

The Bosnian state court rejected a request for the retrial of Mendeljev Djuric, who was sentenced to 28 years in prison for assisting the commission of genocide in Srebrenica.

The trial of three former Bosnian Serb fighters was told that at least one of them admitted killing people at a primary school where Bosniaks were detained in Kalinovik in 1992.

Dusan Gavran, head of the country’s centre for removing mines, BHMAC, has been questioned over claims that he misused his public position and was engaged in corruption.

A former detainee said he was repeatedly beaten in captivity by Nedzad Hodzic, one of two Bosniak ex-servicemen accused of wartime crimes on Mount Igman.

Former Croatian Defence Council fighter Nikola Maric is accused of involvement in the detentions, persecution and killings of Bosniaks in the Prozor area in 1992 and 1993.

Four ex-members of the Croatian Defence Council, whose arrests sparked a protest in Kiseljak, are accused of the torture and inhumane treatment of prisoners of war in 1993.

After the EU Foreign Affairs Council discussed Bosnia on Monday, it said separatist rhetoric must go and politicians need to focus more on economic development and jobs.

The international court turned down former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic’s request to quash the genocide and war crime charges against him midway through his trial.

The Bosnian State Investigation and Protection Agency searched the building as part of an investigation into alleged crimes against Serbs in the area during the 1990s war.

A witness told the war crimes trial of Bosnian Serb ex-fighter Dragan Sekaric how his wife was killed while trying to escape an attack on the village of Kokino Selo near Gorazde in May 1992.