No Charges Yet for Exposing Srebrenica Trial Witness’s Identity

A year after an investigation was opened into the disclosure by several media outlets of the identity of a protected witness in the trial of five ex-policemen accused of involvement in the Srebrenica genocide, the prosecution has not announced any progress in the case.

The investigation was opened in September 2020 after several prominent media outlets in Bosnia's Serb-dominated Republika Srpska entity reported details that identify the witness, who was testifying in the trial at the Bosnian state court under the pseudonym M-16.

The Glas Srpske newspaper website published the witness's initials and place of birth, and several other media outlets, like Radio Television Republika Srpska, RTRS, the Bosnian Serb public broadcaster, reported the alleged full name of the protected witness.

The witness claimed during his testimony in 2017 that Republika Srpska's current Prime Minister Radovan Viskovic offered him money to dig mass graves in 1996.

The state prosecution said a year ago that it would check information that it had received that certain staff members at the Bosnian state court and prosecution might have been connected to the disclosure of the protected witness' identity and the unauthorised provision of access to official documents.

However, one year on, the prosecution did not respond to BIRN's inquiries about what stage the case is at now, and whether prosecutors have carried out any checks on the basis of the report about the possible involvement of court and prosecution staff members in the witness's exposure.

Legal experts said there was no excuse for the lack of progress in the past year.

"For me there is no excuse for failing to complete the investigation in such a long period of time," said...