Tanaskovic: Defence Request for Re-exhumation

Radmila Radisavljevic, Nenad Tanaskovic’s defence attorney, has requested exhumation of the remains of Enver Kulovac, buried on the city cemetery in Visoko. She has also asked that a DNA analysis be done in order to determine the identity of the body.

Trial Chamber chairman Hilmo Vucinic has asked the Prosecution to check if a DNA analysis has already been performed.

The indictment claims that on 16 June 1992, Tanaskovic, a former member of reserve police forces in the police station in Visegard, singled out Enver Kulovac from a group of Bosniaks returning to their homes after an unsuccessful attempt to leave Visegrad. Later, Kulovac was murdered and his remains were exhumed, after the war, from a mass grave in the village of Slap near Zepa.

The Defence wants to “prove that Tanaskovic never took Kulovac away” and that he “died, as a solider, in Gorazde”.

“We want the truth about whether Kulovac was murdered or died during a battle,” said Radisavljevic.

The Prosecution objected to the exhumation of the body from the grave in Visoko, explaining that Kulovac was identified by his mother Mula Kustura, who testified as a prosecution witness in April this year.

“Kustura said she recognised her son’s trousers that they had bought together in autumn that year. Allegedly, the trousers still had ironing marks on them, although ten years had passed,” Radisavljevic has said and added that she thinks that Kustura testified against Tanaskovic “under duress”.

The defence has invited Ahmed Sejdic, the author of the book “Being a witness of the truth”, to testify about the war happenings in Visegrad. The name of Enver Kulovac, who died in a battle as a member of the Army of BiH, is mentioned in the book.

Answering the defence’s question, Sejdic has said that a “mistake occurred” in the book.

“This actually refers to Enveru Kulovic. We were together in the battle and he was killed by grenade shrapnel. His body was found on the territory separating us and the enemy on 1 January 1993,” says Sejdic, claiming that the last name Kulovac was printed in his book instead of Kulovic.

The defence has shown a video recording showing a group of Bosniaks stopping buses coming to Visegrad from the direction of Serbia, and then setting the Serbian flag on fire.

The prosecution has objected, saying that the events happened in 1991 and not in the period when Tanaskovic’s alleged crimes happened.

The trial is set to continue on 16 July, when the trial chamber will visit crime scenes in Visegrad.