Simsic: Defence witness accused

In her testimony during the presentation of evidence, prosecution witness Elmasa Ahmetspahic connected defence witness Slavisa Jovanovic and the indictee Boban Simsic by alleging that the two had shot civilians and burned houses in the village Velji Lug.

“I remember everything and I will never forget,” said Ahmetspahic, who claims that she saw the two men in front of her house on July 25, 1992.

“I heard two sets of automatic fire and then Slavisa said ‘Boban, I killed two and one ran away’,” Ahmetspahic,who was clearly upset, told the court.

Slavisa Jovanovic, a former member of the Army of Republika Srpska, had appeared as a defence witness before the court on April 13, 2006. He denied these accusations, claiming that he was hospitalised in Serbia during that period.

During the confrontation, Jovanovic accused the prosecution witness of not telling the truth. “Under all responsibility I say that you are lying and therefore protecting direct participants,” he said.

According to the indictment, on July 251992, Simsic and around ten Serb soldiers and policemen participated in the attack on the village Velji Lug. It is claimed that they killed civilians and burned houses belonging to Bosniaks, who were then captured and illegally detained in the Hasan Veletovac elementary school.

During the proceedings, the prosecution presented new evidence to the trial chamber – a Serbian report that confirmed that Jovanovic had indeed been hospitalised in Serbia, but only between July 9 and 20, five days before the events in the indictment took place.

It is further stated in the report that while Jovanovic’s sister claimed that he had spent the next month of recovery with her, there is no official evidence of this.

Meanwhile, a new prosecution witness, Ramiza Sabanovic, recognised the indictee Simisic as the person who burnt her house in July 1992. “Boban was among those soldiers and he burned my house,” Sabanovic said.

During the cross examination, the witness said that the soldiers who were near her house had worn socks on their heads and that it was hard to recognise them. This admission caused defence attorney Veljko Civsa to express suspicion about her testimony.

The continuation of the main hearing is scheduled for June 19.