Zecevic et al: Interventions Squads Issue
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Responding to questions made by State Prosecutor Slavica Terzic, Mladen Bajagic said that the Interventions Squad was therefore established in an illegal way, because the then Law on Internal Affairs of Republika Srpska, RS, “did not recognise the term of intervention squads”.
“The wartime Presidency of the Prijedor Municipal Assembly made the decision on the establishment of the interventions squad. (…) The Ministry of Internal Affairs of RS had troubles with local authorities. Attention was drawn to the interventions squads issue,” expert witness Bajagic said, presenting his opinion in defence of indictee Petar Civcic.
Besides Civcic, former member of the Interventions Squad with the Public Safety Station in Prijedor , Sasa Zecevic, Radoslav Knezevic, Marinko Ljepoja and Branko Topola are charged with the killing of 200 men, who had previously been separated from a convoy travelling from Prijedor to Travnik, at Koricanske stijene on August 21, 1992.
The State Prosecution’s indictment alleges that Civcic was Commander of the First Unit with that Squad, while Zecevic, Knezevic and Ljepoja were members of the Squad. The indictment further alleges that Topola was member of the Territorial Defence.
Responding to questions made by the Trial Chamber, expert witness Bajagic said that indictee Civcic was not commander of the squad, as alleged in official documents of the Public Safety Station in Prijedor.
“Civcic was commander of a unit with the Interventions Squad that consisted of 20 members subordinate to him. As far as this type of unit is concerned, he has no authority whatsoever. The Public Safety Station did not list his responsibilities in any of its acts,” Bajagic explained.
The expert witness said that the Chief of the Public Safety Station gave tasks to the Interventions Squad. Simo Drljaca, who was killed during an arrest operation in 1997, was the Station Chief at the time. When asked how the orders were conveyed to members of the Interventions Squad, Bajagic said that, in his opinion, it should have been done by the Squad Commander.
The trial is due to continue on September 21, when three new witnesses will testify in defence of indictee Civcic.
