Kondic et al: An eerie plan

In its introductory arguments the State Prosecution said that Vinko Kondic, Bosko Lukic and Marko Adamovic participated in a joint criminal enterprise, whose aim was “an eerie plan of creating a Serbian state”. It said that the plan resulted in murder, deportation and forcible detention of civilians from Kljuc municipality.

The Defence of two indictees denied their clients’ participation in the crimes charged upon them, while Vinko Kondic’s Defence gave up on its right to present introductory arguments.

The Prosecution charges Kondic, Lukic and Adamovic with having participated in organising a group of people and abetting them to commit genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Kljuc municipality in the course of 1992.

As indicated by Prosecutor Dzemila Begovic, the joint criminal enterprise started in the second half of 1991, when “the Serbian people’s assembly” and parallel government institutions were formed, which were not in line with the constitution, which was in force at the time.

“Besides the indictees, Stojan Zupljanin, Momir Talic, Radovan Karadzic, Radoslav Brdjanin and many others participated in the joint criminal enterprise by eliminating Bosnians Croats and Muslims,” the Prosecutor said, adding that all those persons contributed to the killing, which was the aim of the enterprise.

The trials of Zupljanin and Karadzic, before the Hague Tribunal, are due to start soon, while Brdjanin was sentenced, by a second instance verdict, to 30 years’ imprisonment and Talic has died in the meantime.

The Prosecutor said that, in the second half of 1991 a Crisis Committee was created, which soon became a governmental body. She said that the three indictees were active participants in it, just like other members of the Serbian Democratic Party, SDS.

“The available evidence will prove that the decisions made by the SDS Executive Board were the same as the Crisis Committee’s decisions. It is certain that those same people formed the wartime Presidency of Kljuc municipality, whose activities resulted in the killing of several hundreds of people, resettlement, burning and taking to detention camps,” the Prosecutor said.

As explained by the Prosecutor the then functions of indictee Kondic, who was chief of police in Kljuc, and Adamovic and Lukic, who were engaged with the Territorial Defence, enabled the Wartime Presidency to have full control over civilian and military structures.

As indicated by attorney Haris Bojic, Lukic’s Defence will prove that its client was appointed as commander of the Territorial Defence Staffs in Kljuc by “competent bodies, which followed a legal procedure”, adding that he performed “tasks behind frontlines”.

Bojic said that his client did not participate in any governmental bodies, which implies that he was not a member of the wartime Presidency of Kljuc municipality.

Dragica Glusac, the Defence attorney of Adamovic, said that she could not understand why her client was indicted, considering the fact that the Prosecution’s evidence was not relevant, as it pointed to “some other acts and different perpetrators”.

“Adamovic is not responsible for mistakes made by his superiors or subordinates, as he did all he could to prevent the crimes,” Glusac said.

The trial is due to continue on Wednesday, September 24.