Mihaljevic: Discussion in Courtroom

The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina considers that in the first-instance verdict against Zdravko Mihaljevic there were substantial violations of the criminal proceedings. It argues that facts were wrongly and incompletely determined, and it has therefore called on the Appellate Chamber to revoke the verdict and order a retrial.

“The first-instance verdict is incomprehensible and contradictory in itself. The Prosecution considers that the first-instance Chamber should have assessed all pieces of evidence. By doing that the Chamber could have determined that the indictee committed the crime of which he was charged,” Prosecutor Slavica Terzic said.

Mihaljevic, a former member of the Second Battalion with the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, and commander of the “Maturice” Special Purposes Squad, was acquitted, by a first-instance verdict handed down in April 2008, of charges that he participated in an attack on and in the murder and torture of civilians in Tulice village, Kiseljak Municipality.

Judge Almiro Rodrigues, Appellate Chamber member, asked for detailed explanations of the appeal. Among other things, he wanted to know how the Prosecution came to the conclusion that the first-instance Chamber did not assess all the evidence, as well as whether a verdict should take notice of each piece of evidence, irrespective of whether it was admitted or not.

Rodrigues further said that, if the Prosecution “understood the verdict”, it could in no way be “incomprehensible”.
 
Following a long discussion between the judge and prosecutor, Appellate Chamber Chairwoman Azra Miletic said the appeal could be considered without the Prosecution’s explanations, adding that it was not necessary to ask so many questions.

“If the Prosecution has made some omissions in the appeal, it will be to its own detriment,” Miletic said.
 
In his response to the Prosecution’s appeal, Defence attorney Dusko Tomic mentioned the statements given by some Prosecution witnesses, calling them “pathological liars”, adding that many witnesses “who know who committed the murders in Tulica” were not even examined.
 
“Those who committed the crimes in Kiseljak today perform functions with SIPA, the Prosecution and other Federal bodies. I call on this Court to confirm the verdict of acquittal. No court in the world would sentence this man on the basis of evidence presented in the course of the trial,” Tomic said.

The Appellate Chamber will render its decision at a later stage.