Klickovic et al: A Pragmatic Man

The Trial Chamber has asked the Defence of Gojko Klickovic to amend its list of witnesses, asking it not to summons “needless and redundant witnesses” to appear at hearings.

“It is unnecessary to have nearly 30 witnesses of Serb ethnicity speak about what happened in Bosanska Krupa on April 21, 1992 or for you to examine Marinko Jurcevic and Dzemila Begovic. Unless you correct the list, the Trial Chamber will have to do it,” Trial Chamber Chairman Zoran Bozic said.

Marinko Jurcevic was Chief State Prosecutor from 2003 until 2007. Dzemila Begovic is a prosecutor with the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Defence of Klickovic plans to summons more than 190 witnesses and present several hundred pieces of material evidence in order to prove that the first indictee was not responsible for the crimes committed in Bosanska Krupa.

Dusko Tomic, Defence attorney of Klickovic, said the Defence could not give up on some witnesses because the first indictee would not agree to that.

“You used to be the Prime Minister, so I expect you to be a pragmatic man,” Bozic said, addressing Klickovic.

Klickovic, Mladen Drljaca and Jovan Ostojic are charged with crimes against humanity committed in the Bosanska Krupa area during the course of 1992.

The indictment alleges that Serb forces under “the actual control of Gojko Klickovic” conducted attacks on Bosanska Krupa on April 21, 1992, when at least 17 people were killed and 14 were wounded.

The Defence said that Avdo Hebib and Radomir Njegus “tried to avoid appearing as witnesses”, explaining that they had not answered their phones over the past few days. The Defence proposed that written invitations be sent to these witnesses.

Hebib was Assistant Minister of Police with the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina at the beginning of the war, while Njegus was former Director of the Republika Srpska Police.

Klickovic said that during the course of evidence presenting he was trying to follow “the chronological sequence of events that happened in Bosanska Krupa and the broader area”, adding that he could not continue examining other witnesses, until “the examination pertaining to Bihac, for which all preparatory arrangements have been made, has been completed”.

Klickovic was Prime Minister of Republika Srpska from 1996 to 1998. During the war he performed, among other things, the functions of Commander of the Crisis Committee of the Serb municipality of Bosanska Krupa and President of the wartime Presidency in that town.

The trial is due to continue on Wednesday, September 16.