Zivkovic and Tadic: Closing Statements on February 6

The Trial Chamber invited the military court expert in order to explain the relation between the Public Safety Station in Cajnice and other bodies in that area in April 1992.

Court expert Mile Matijevic said that, in organisational terms the Public Safety Station in Cajnice was part of the Safety Services Center in Gorazde prior to the military conflicts and until the adoption of the Law on Internal Affairs of the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“The law that was adopted on April 1, 1992 introduced some changes, so the Public Safety Station in Cajnice became part of the Safety Service Centre in Trebinje,” Matijevic said.

The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina charges Milorad Zivkovic and Dusko Tadic with the persecution of Bosniaks from the Cajnice area, including the murder of 11 civilians at Mostina on May 19, 1992.

The indictment alleges that Zivkovic was Chief of the Public Safety Station in Cajnice and member of the Crisis Committee of Cajnice municipality, while Tadic was a member of the “Plavi orlovi” (“Blue Eagles”) paramilitary unit.

The court expert said that police could be used as an armed force at the time when crisis committees were being established.

When asked by Trial Chamber Chairman Darko Samardzic whether the Crisis Committee could have influenced the work of, and issued orders to the Chief of the Public Safety Station in Cajnice, the court expert answered affirmatively, but he said that the Chief could assess whether such an order was in line with the law.

“They could oppose the orders in case they were illegitimate, although such cases are not mentioned in the documents that I have received,” Matijevic said.

The court expert said that paramilitary formations existed in all parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina at that time, but he was not able to speak about them in detail on the basis of the materials submitted to him for the preparation of his findings.
M.B.