Verdict against Mladen Markovic on May 27
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In his closing statement Prosecutor Mirza Hukeljic said that the Prosecution had proved Mladen Markovic’s guilt for crimes committed in Babin Potok village, near Visegrad in June 1992, calling on the Court to sentence the indictee “in accordance with the law”.
“Witnesses S-1 and S-2 said, testifying before the Court, that indictee Markovic raped them, using force. He treated S-1, who was in the house with her six-year old son, in a particularly cruel manner. She described the details clearly and explained how the event had affected her life,” Hukeljic said.
The Prosecutor said that the indictee came behind injured party S-2’s house and, using a knife, forced her to get into the house, told her to take her clothes off and raped her.
“Witness S-2 identified Mladen Markovic as the person who raped her. A statement given by witness S-4 confirmed her testimony, because the witness saw the indictee pushing S-2 into the house,” the Prosecutor said.
The District Prosecution in Eastern Sarajevo charges Markovic with having raped two women in Babin Potok village, Visegrad municipality, in June 1992.
Presenting her closing statement, Defence attorney Vesna Tupajic-Skiljevic said that Markovic’s guilt had not been proved. She said that the indictment did not precisely define the sequence of actions, so the indictee should be acquitted of all charges.
“In her statement given to police in Gorazde in 1994 witness S-1 said that she was raped by an unknown person accompanied by the indictee. She said that the indictee made a gesture, directing the person to take S-1 to the room. The witness mentioned that she was raped by Mladen Markovic for the first time while giving a statement to the State Investigation and Protection Agency in 2010,” Tupajic-Skiljevic said.
Speaking about witness S-2, the Defence attorney said that “the fact that she had waited for 14 years to report the rape is illogical”.
“There are no trustworthy testimonies supporting witness S-2’s statement,” said Tupajic-Skiljevic.
The indictee addressed the Court, saying that he was not guilty of the crime charged upon him.
“I am being humiliated. I shall persistently claim that I am not guilty. And, you should just do your job,” Markovic said.
