Koricanske stijene: Wrong Crime Scene

“I visited the crime scene last year. I was accompanied by attorney Slobodan Peric. I noticed the location was on the road leading to Koricani village, in the Ilomska river canyon on Mount Runjavica, which was more than two kilometers away from Koricanske stijene and the Ugar river canyon,” Knezevic said, testifying for the Defence of Ljubisa Cetic.

Cetic, Zoran Babic, Milorad Radakovic, Milorad Skrbic, Dusan Jankovic and Zeljko Stojnic, former members of the Interventions Squad and Public Safety Station in Prijedor, are charged with the murder of about 200 civilians who had been separated from a convoy of Bosniak and Croat civilians traveling from Prijedor to Travnik.

The indictment alleges that on August 21, 1992 about 200 men were separated from the rest of the convoy “by the Ugar river, in the Mount Vlasic locality”, and taken to Koricanske stijene, where they were shot.

Witness Mira Jovanovic testifying at this hearing said she had conducted comprehensive research on political parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina for the period between 1989 and 2002.

“My research was particularly focused on the three leading nationalist parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the course of the war – the Serbian Democratic Party, SDS, the Part of Democratic Action, SDA, and the Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ. I determined that the three parties had mono-party control and authority on the territories where they functioned,” Jovanovic said.

The witness told the Court the three nationalist parties “closely cooperated with the military forces on their territories”, adding that the party presidents and main boards had the greatest power.

“The lower levels of the parties had few possibilities for making decisions. You can therefore imagine that a common voter or soldier had the least possibility of making decisions,” Jovanovic said.

The indictment alleges that the indictees took part in a joint criminal enterprise conducted by civil and military authorities in Prijedor municipality with the aim of “persecution of the Bosniak and Croat population”.

Zeljko Popovic, a ballistics expert, presented his findings and opinion, testifying for the Defence of indictee Cetic. He spoke about “the fire or weapon-power of a small caliber rifle called the Brno 2”.

“The rifle is used for hunting and sports hunting. It is exclusively used as a sports weapon. It is difficult to speak about its deadliness. The effects of this rifle are questionable. Considering the way it functions, its weapon-power is in practical terms very small,” the court expert said.

Popovic said “very few bullets” can be fired from a Brno 2 rifle “in one minute”, because the charger contains just five bullets and each bullet has to be manually inserted into the pipe. The court expert said it would be impossible to shoot simultaneously from the Brno 2 rifle and an automatic weapon, “bearing in mind the type of rifle”.

The Defence of Ljubisa Cetic said it would explain in its closing arguments why the ballistics expert had been invited to speak about this weapon.

The next hearing is due to take place on March 9, when Cetic’s Defence will finish presenting its evidence.