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Indictee Zoran Damjanovic has testified before the Court of BiH to deny all counts of the indictment he is facing.
According to the indictment, in June 1992 brothers Zoran and Goran Damjanovic, who were then members of former Srpska Republika of BiH Army, took part in the beating of a group of civilians in the Sarajevo suburb Bojnik. After the abuse, all detainees were transferred to a camp in Rajlovac.
Zoran Damjanovic told the Court that on April 4, 1992 he was drafted by Army in Rajlovac, where he was living with his wife, and that he was assigned “to guard the village” together with other soldiers, but that “they did not have other activities”.
“We were surrounded by Muslims and we guarded the village,” he told the Court. “Until June 10 we could not go anywhere because of the barricades.”
On that day, he continued, the indictee went to visit his parents who were in Bojnik.
“I found out via radio that my father was wounded and between June 10 and 15 I went to Bojnik with neighbour Mirko Avlijas who had a car,” Zoran Damjanovic said.
The indictee denies allegations that he took part in the June 2, 1992 crime.
“That is not true!” he said. “Prosecution witnesses gave our names because of a bar owned by my father which they called ‘chetnik’s bar’. I don’t even know half of the witnesses,” he added.
Some of the Prosecution witnesses claimed that on June 2, 1992 they saw the Damjanovic brothers at the place where the alleged crime was committed.
Defence witness Mirko Avlijas confirmed Zoran Damjanovic’s account and said that they jointly went to visit the Damjanovic brothers’ father on June 10, 1992.
Avlijas also said that he could not leave Rajlovac village before June 10 “because of the barricades”.
The third witness, Ilija Tolj – who is Zoran Damjanovic’s father-in-law – claims that the indictee lived in his house during the war and testified to confirm the testimonies of the previous two witnesses.
Prosecutor Philip Alcock announced the cross-examination of Defence witnesses after direct questioning. Zoran Damjanovic’s Defence will call three more witnesses.
The trial will be continued on Friday, February 16, 2007.
