Local Justice Bejtic: Presenting Statements
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Galib Alendar, former Battalion Squad Commander with the 10th Mountain Brigade of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, ABiH, appeared as first witness at this trial who was presented with his statement given during the course of the original main trial. He said that he stuck with all of the statements he gave in relation to this case.When asked by the Trial Chamber if he knew anything about the mobilisation of Zoran Vucurevic, the witness said that he knew that, in that period of time decisions were being made on whether several tens of people would join the Army or perform civil duties. He said that he knew that Vucurevic was one of those people.
The Sarajevo Cantonal Prosecution charges Bejtic, former member of the 10th Mountain Brigade with ABiH, with having taken Zoran Vucurevic beyond the division line, which was controlled by the ABiH, on December 25, 1992, killed him from a revolver, poured a diluent over his body and set the body on fire.
Among other things, the indictment alleges that Bejtic, who was accompanied by other ABiH members, participated in the beating of two civilians in the Tenth Mountain Brigade Command in mid-September 1993. It further alleges that they then took the civilians to Kazani and killed them.
Ismet Ramic and Dzemo Topalovic, whose statements were presented at this hearing as well, said that they stuck with whatever they said during the previous trial.
I said before that, together with Enes Haskic, my superior, I took a guy named Zoran to the ABiH 10th Mountain Brigade Command, but I do not know what happened afterwards, because I returned to the Command immediately after that, witness Ramic said.
Enes Haskic, former Commander of the Second Battalion with ABiH, said that he could not confirm whether he was in the Tenth Mountain Brigade Command together with Ramic and Vucurevic, adding that he stuck with all of his previous statements.
I know that I heard some noise and saw someone in the ABiH Command premises, but I do not know if it was the Vucurevic guy. In case he was the person whom I saw there, I know that nothing happened to him at that time, because I saw him at the Markale open market in Sarajevo three days later, Haskic said.
In July 2006 the Sarajevo Cantonal Court sentenced Samir Bejtic to 14 years and six months in prison for killing civilians at Kazani, Sarajevo. The parties appealed the verdict. The Supreme Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, FBiH upheld them and ordered a retrial in January 2007.
Following the retrial, in July 2008 Bejtic was acquitted of the charges that he committed murder, beating and abuse of civilians at Kazani.
The Cantonal Prosecution filed another appeal with the Supreme Court of FBiH in November 2010. The verdict was then revoked and a new trial before the Sarajevo Cantonal Court ordered.
The trial is due to continue on July 15, 2011.S.U. ———————————————————————————————–This article is made possible by the support of the American People through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID.) The contents of this article are the sole responsibility of Balkan investigative reporting network (BIRN) and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.
