Witness No Longer Recalls Anything
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Senad Setka recounted that on 13 July 1993 he was arrested in the Stolac area and taken to a house from which the following day he was transferred to the Bone Diseases Hospital in Stolac.
When asked by the BiH Prosecutors Office whether Veselko Raguz was among the people he saw on leaving the house, the witness replied that it may be that he was, but that he could not assert this.
Prosecutor Remzija Smailagic reminded the witness that he had mentioned Veselko Raguz in a statement given to the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA). Last year I had a tumor operation, my child is ill, I dont remember anything anymore, said Setka adding that he lost his job after he had testified once in the past and that he did not want to give any further statements in relation to war crimes.
He said that he had been examined and beaten at the Bone Diseases Hospital but that he did not remember seeing Veselko Raguz there. Prosecutor Smailagic read one part of the SIPA record in which the witness stated that Veselko Raguz had attended his examination.
As commander of the Fourth Battalion Brigade Knez Domagoj of the Croat Defence Council (HVO) Veselko Raguz is charged with ordering and participating in the arrest and imprisonment of civilians from Stolac and Capljina in the summer of 1993.
He is on trial together with Ivan Raguz, a former member of the same brigade accused of taking part in the abuse of prisoners. Witness Setka stated that he could neither claim seeing Ivo Raguz at the Bone Diseases Hospital and that he met him only after the war.
I knew Veselko also before the war and on arriving at Stolac. I would also see him after the war, the witness said. He said that he did not ask that the accused be prosecuted and that no one threatened him.
No one needs to threaten me, the fact that I am unemployed is the threat in itself,” he explained.The BiH Prosecutors Office abandoned hearing a new witness. Prosecutor Smailagic explained that the witness was old and infirm and that she could not provide transportation for the witness to the Court of BiH.
The trial will continue on 3 April when a status conference will take place before the presentation of the Defence’s evidence and the first Defence witness for Veselko Raguz will be heard.
