Ramic: Information Available to Police

Two Defence witnesses at the trial of Niset Ramic say they knew of the crime committed in the village of Hlapcevici, Visoko municipality, in June 1992.

The Prosecution considers that Ramic, who was a member of the Territorial Defence in Visoko, is responsible for the crime committed on 20 June 1992 and charge him to have murdered four persons and wounded two others.

“I do not know the exact date of the action, but I remember it was organised by Territorial Defence Visoko,” said Midhat Zubaca, who claims to have worked as a detective in Visoko at that time.

Zubaca says that the police found out about the crime committed in the village of Hlapcevici “a few days later” when they patrolled the villages on the territory of Visoko municipality.

“Our operating centre did not receive any official notification, but we visited some villages, a few days after the action, because we found out that certain individuals had been despoiling houses. We were told by local people in the village of Hlapcevici that a member of the territorial defence had killed those residents and that some people had survived,” Zubaca added.

This witness stressed out that residents “had condemned” the crimes, but the indictee had not been “processed by the police” as “there had been no charge against him”.

Zdenko Filipovic, the second Defence witness, pointed out that he “had heard” of the murder of civilians.

“I heard that the action had taken place in June 1992 and that eight or nine civilians had been killed,” said Filipovic, who claims to have worked as a police inspector in Visoko.

The continuation of the trial is scheduled for 21 June, when the Defence will listen to three more witnesses.