Karajic: Fear from the future
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The State Prosecution intends to examine 50 witnesses during the evidence presentation against Suljo Karajic, also known as Hodza, the former commander of the Second Military Police Squad with the 505th Knights Motorised Brigade of the Fifth Corps of BiH Army (ABiH).
The trial started with the reading of the indictment and the presentation of introductory arguments by Prosecution Attorney Vesna Ilic and Defence Attorney Hasan Veladzic.
Karajic is charged with ”ordering and participating in the murder and inhumane treatment of captives and civilians” in the period between August 1994 and February 1995, during the conflict between the Army of BiH and the Western Bosnia Autonomous Region National Defence (WBARND) in the Bihac region.
Prosecution Attorney Ilic announced that a certain number of witnesses have been assigned pseudonyms after they asked for witness protection and emphasised that ”13 years after the war there is no forgiveness in their souls.”
”Instead of that there is a fear of the indictee whom they have continued to see in Velika Kladusa after the war’,’ stated the Prosecution Attorney.
In his introductory argument, Hasan Veladzic, the chief defence attorney, stated that ”something is wrong” with the indictment that has charged ”Karajic with 18 different crimes.”
”We have to ask ourselves is it logical that a soldier with a spotless career commits all these crimes?” the defence attorney asked in his introduction adding that he will prove through his own evidence and Prosecution evidence, that his client is not guilty.
He mentioned to Trial Chamber that they will often hear word ”supporter” during this trial so he reminded them of the conflict between ABiH and WBARND.
”Every single man in that part of Bosnia was inclining to one or the other. There were no neutrals and everybody wanted to succeed- supporters of the National Defence to create the Western Bosnia Autonomous Region, and supporters of the Fifth Corp of Army BiH carrying on for mere survival, knowing that if they lose Srebrenica it would have been nothing compared to Bihac,” said attorney Hasan Veladzic.
The Western Bosnia Autonomous Region was established on September 29, 1993 by Fikret Abdic, who in 2005 was found guilty and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment in Pula, Croatia.
The State Prosecution will examine its first witnesses on March 20.
