Court of BiH issues warrant for Milenko Samardzija after he failed to appear at trial

The BiH Prosecutor’s Office requested that Samardzija be remanded in custody and that a warrant be issued after he failed to appear for the continuation of his trial on July 13, BIRN BiH reports.

Prosecutor Ivan Matesic said that Samardzija had collected documents from the company where he was employed, left Bosnia and Herzegovina and violated previously imposed restrictions.

Presiding Judge Dragan Vukajlovic said at the time that an order had been issued for Samardžija to be brought to the hearing, but that judicial police officers had been unable to find him at his registered address.

Samardzija is charged alongside Zivan Miljanovic, Stevo Bokaric, Jovica Petrovic, Mirko Simic, Ljubo Markovic, Slavenko Kocevic, Zvonko Przulj, Kosta Stanic and Radomir Maric, former police commanders and members of police forces from Bijeljina and Sokolac, with the abduction and killing of 22 Bosniak civilians from the Bukreš neighborhood on the night of September 24-25, 1992.

Samardzija is also charged with shooting three men on the banks of the Drina River after they were detained by police on September 11, 1992.