Four Serbs arrested on Hague indictment say they are innocent

Serbian Press Agency SRNA, Bijeljina, 20-09-2005 11:27:22

FOUR SERBS TRANSFERRED TO PRISON IN KOSOVSKA MITROVICA

Pristina - Four Serbs from the village of Slovinje near Lipljan, who have been sentenced to one month of detention, have been transferred from the prison in Pristina to the prison in Kosovska Mitrovica.

Zivorad, Slobodan and Milovan Maksimovic and Ljubisa Peric have been detained on suspicion of having committed war crimes against the civilian population, specifically, the murder of a number of Albanians and inflicting serious bodily injury to persons of Albanian nationality in April 1998 in Slovinje. They are also accused of participating as co-perpetrators of a group.

Nebojsa Vlajic, one of the attorneys for the Maksimovic brothers, said that international judge Claudia Frenz issued an order to transfer the accused Serbs from Pristina to Kosovska Mitrovica to facilitate contact with their attorneys and families.

Peric and the Maksimovic brothers were arrested on Sunday, September 18, in Gracanica where they lived as displaced persons after being expelled from Slovinje in June 1999.

-----

19-09-2005 18:31:02

ONE MONTH DETENTION FOR MAKSIMOVIC BROTHERS AND LJUBISA PERIC

Pristina - International judge Claudia Frenz has sentenced Zivorad, Slobodan and Milovan Maksimovic and Ljubisa Peric from the village of Slovinje near Lipljan to one month of detention. [...]

Detention was determined based on the proposal of international public prosecutor Paul Flynn.

The three Maksimovic brothers and their uncle, Ljubisa Peric, will be held in Kosovska Mitrovica, said Nebojsa Vlajic, attorney for the accused.

"The judge and the prosecutor personally promised me this," added Vlajic.

According to Vlajic after the first month a decision will be made on the eventual prolongation of their detention, on which Claudia Frenz and prosecutor Flynn insist.

"We have a deadline to submit appeals within the next three days on the decisions that were passed today but it's completely clear they will be rejected," said Vlajic. [...]

-----

19-09-2005 13:59:20

ONE MONTH DETENTION FOR LJUBISA PERIC

Pristina - Ljubisa Peric, one of the Serbs arrested yesterday in Gracanica, has been sentenced to one month of detention on suspicion that "together with a group of co-perpetrators he committed war crimes against the civilian population - a number of murders, inflicting serious bodily injury and that he expelled Albanians from the village of Slovinje in Lipljan municipality", said Peric's attorney, Ljubomir Pantovic.

Peric was ordered arrested by the president of the Criminal Council, Austrian Claudia Frenz, on the proposal of the international public prosecutor from Ireland, Paul Flynn, and at the same time a process was launched to conduct an investigation on the basis of the criminal code of Kosovo.

Pantovic emphasizes that a series of procedural violations took place in the arrest of Peric because he was neither sent nor served with the so-called decision on police detention.

"This is a classic violation of the Kosovo law on criminal procedures, even though the criminal deeds of which Peric is accused are defined by the criminal code of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, not of Kosovo," emphasized Pantovic.

He said that in the case of the arrest of the four members of the Serbs a rule was implemented that one attorney can only represent one defendant; consequently, the three Maksimovic brothers will be defended by attorneys Nebojsa Vlajic and Miro Delevic, with a third attorney who will join them.

A meeting of the Investigating Council with respect to the case of the Maksimovic brothers is in progress.

Members of special units of international police arrested the three Maksimovic brothers, Zivorad (44), Slobodan (40) and Milovan (38) and their uncle, Ljubisa Peric, all refugees from Slovinje near Lipljan, yesterday morning.

The Maksimovices and Peric are indicted by the international public prosecutor of allegedly participating in the murder of 17 Albanians and the expulsion of 450 persons of Albanian nationality from the village of Slovinje during the 1999 (NATO) bombing.

Pantovic had said earlier that his clients denied any involvement in crimes they are being accused of according to the indictment of the Hague tribunal.

-----

19-09-2005 10:40:14

ARRESTED SERBS DENY INVOLVEMENT IN CRIMES

Pristina - An attorney for the Serbs arrested yesterday in Gracanica, Ljubomir Pantovic, said today that his clients denied any involvement in crimes they are being accused of according to the indictment of the Hague tribunal. [...]

"We still have not received the document on the basis of which and because of which the three Maksimovices and Peric were arrested. I expect a meeting with representatives of the arresting authority, followed by a meeting with the international prosecutor where, I expect, the details of the indictment will be presented," said Pantovic.

He said that it is completely apparent that this case is not under the jurisdiction of the Kosovo prosecutor's office. [...]

On the list of persons supposedly yet to be arrested by the Hague tribunal there are 29 Serbs from Slovinje, among them the Maksimovices and their uncle, Ljubisa Peric.