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Zeljko Karan, court medicine expert, who prepared his findings and opinion about the cause of death of 16 people from Serdari, at the request by the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said that these people died a violent death.
A medical doctor who examined these persons following their death, determined that they had injuries caused by bullets. He said that three of the bodies were charred. (…) My impression is that the charred bodies were first killed by bullets and then charred, the court expert said.
He told the Court that on the basis of documents submitted to him for the preparation of his findings and opinion, he determined that the youngest victim was four and the oldest 60 years old.
According to the State Prosecutions charges, Fikret Planincic, Rasim Lisancic, Sead Menzil and Mirsad Vatrac, former members of the Territorial Defence of Kotor-Varos, participated in an attack on Serdari village on September 17, 1992, when 16 Serb civilians were killed.
Court expert Karan said that he was not able to determine the cause of death of each of the victims, because, in order to do that, an autopsy should have been performed after the death of those individuals.
I cannot say whether some of them had injuries to their lungs, kidneys, liver or something else. This can be determined only if an autopsy is conducted after the death of a person. If we would conduct an exhumation now, 20 years later, we could only find bone injuries, but no soft tissue injuries could be detected, he explained.
Lisancic, whom the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina previously released from custody and ordered prohibiting measures against instead, said that he did not know how he would be able to attend hearings, because he was in a bad financial situation.
On October 4 the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina terminated custody for Planincic, Lisancic and Menzil and ordered prohibiting measures, including home detention and a ban on meeting with each other.
Due to the specific situation, the Trial Chamber decided that indictees Lisancic and Menzil could contact each other so they could travel to the hearings together.
On Tuesday, October 16 the Trial Chamber is due to visit Serdari village and other locations that are covered by the indictment.
The trial continues on October 23.
S.U.
