here - Humanitarian Law Center/Fond za humanitarno pravo

1.4. Tuzlanska kolona (Tuzla Convoy ) 57
A retrial of the Tuzla Convoy case continued into 2012 at the Higher Court in Belgrade. During
the seven court days, presentation of evidence continued with the hearing of seven witnesses and
one expert witness.
Course of the proceedings
The indictment brought by the TRZ 58 on 9 November 2007 59 , and amended on 18 September
2009, alleges that the accused, Ilija Jurišić, on 15 May 1992 in Tuzla (BiH), as a member of the
Bosnian and Croatian party to the conflict, and in his capacity as a duty officer at the Operational
Staff of the SJB in Tuzla with order-issuing authority over all armed formations deployed in the
territory of Tuzla, upon receiving an order to attack from his superior officer (Meša Bajrić,
commander of the Operational Staff and Chief of SJB), personally ordered, over the radio, an
attack on a JNA convoy at the moment when the second element of the convoy was peacefully
passing along Skojevska Street at the intersection known as Brčanska malta. The attack resulted
in the death of as many as 51 and wounding of at least 50 JNA members. It is alleged that as the
attack had been planned beforehand and prepared on the ground, its execution constituted a
breach of existing agreements on the peaceful withdrawal of JNA units from the entire territory
of BiH and therefore, Tuzla. These agreements gave reassurance to JNA forces that they could
safely leave Tuzla.
The first trial of this case commenced on 22 February 2008 before the District Court in Belgrade.
On 28 September 2009, upon the conclusion of the evidence presentation process, the trial
chamber, presided over by judge Vinka Beraha Nikićević, delivered its judgment, 60 sentencing
Ilija Jurišić to 12 years imprisonment.
Accepting an appeal by the defense, on 11 October 2010, the Court of Appeal in Belgrade handed
down a decision 61 overturning 62 the trial court judgment, with the instruction that the case be
remanded to the trial court and retried by a chamber composed of members other than those who
had adjudicated at the first trial 63 .
The retrial commenced on 6 July 2011. The court sat for five days in 2012, and, for the most part
re-examined witnesses, pursuant to instructions by the Court of Appeal with regard to the
accurate and comprehensive establishment of the facts.
57 K-Po2 53/2010.
58 Deputy War Crimes Prosecutor Milan Petrović.
59 The full version of the indictment is available on the TRZ website at: www.tuzilastvorz.org.rs
60 Judgment KV. No 5/2007.
61 Decision of the Court of Appeal КŽ1 Po2 5/10.
62 For the analysis of the Court of Appeal’s decision, see Report on War Crimes Trials in Serbia in 2011, HLC, p. 48.
63 Members of the trial chamber: judge Dragan Mirković (presiding), judge Olivera Anđelković and judge Tatjana
Vuković.
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