Under Rule 98bis of the Rules of Evidence and Procedure, after the prosecution presents its evidence, the defence has the right to seek an acquittal regarding charges which have not been proven beyond reasonable doubt.
The previously applied procedure envisaged submissions in writing, an oral hearing and a decision in writing, which lasted two to three months.
The amended Rule 98bis now envisages only submissions and an oral decision, as applied today in the Oric case.
Defence counsel for the 38-year-old Bosnian Army general asked that Oric be acquitted of all six counts of his indictment which charges him with war crimes committed against civilians in Bosnian Army attacks on some 50 Serb villages in the Drina River valley in 1992 and 1993, and the murder of Serbs imprisoned at the time in the police station in Srebrenica.
Oric is charged on the basis of personal and command responsibility with murder, cruel treatment, destruction of villages and plunder of public and private property, as well as with violations of the laws and customs of war.
The trial chamber conducting the case decided that the prosecution had provided ample evidence to reach verdicts for four counts of murder, cruel treatment and destruction of villages and acquitted the accused of two counts of plunder.