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The Appeals Chamber will deliver its judgement in the case against Momir Nikolic on Wednesday, 8 March 2006 at 9:00 in Courtroom I.
Momir Nikolic, Assistant Commander for Security and Intelligence of the Bosnian Serb Army Bratunac Brigade, pleaded guilty to persecuting Bosnian Muslim civilians in Srebrenica in 1995. The Trial Chamber sentenced him to 27 years imprisonment for this crime. Momir Nikolic appealed his sentence.
On 7 May 2003, Momir Nikolic admitted that he was involved in coordinating and organizing the Bosnian Serb army operation to kill over 7,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys, and deport many thousands of women and children to Muslim-held territory. The operation began in the days after Bosnian Serb forces took control of the Srebrenica area on 11 July 1995. Momir Nikolic stated that
Bosnian Serb army and police forces continued to capture and execute prisoners from July through October 1995. Momir Nikolic also admitted that from mid-September to October 1995 he coordinated the effort to exhume and re-bury the victims' bodies, which was done in order to conceal the evidence of the murders. He further acknowledged that he was involved in terrorising Bosnian Muslim
civilians, treating them cruelly and inhumanely, and destroying their property.
In deciding Momir Nikolic's sentence, the Trial Chamber found that he was an active participant in the crimes committed in several locations. Momir Nikolic admitted that he discussed the killing and deportation operation with other Bosnian Serb officers on several occasions, including the key meetings at which the Muslim population's fate was decided, and recommended sites to
detain the men prior to their execution. The Trial Chamber found that Momir Nikolic did nothing to stop the crimes, avoid his official duties, or object to the killing and deportation plan.
Momir Nikolic is one of 19 individuals the Tribunal has indicted for crimes committed in Srebrenica in July 1995. He is one of six accused who the Tribunal has convicted for involvement in these crimes. Former Yugoslav and Serb President Slobodan Miloševic is currently on trial for crimes committed in Srebrenica, among others, while nine other accused are in the pre-trial phase of
proceedings. Of the six accused who remain at large, three are charged with crimes committed in Srebrenica: Ratko Mladic, Radovan Karadžic, and Zdravko Tolimir.
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