Witnesses Want to Come, but They Need Transport

Prosecutor Mirko Lecic said that he and an investigator personally visited four witnesses, who lived in Priboj, Serbia, and Visegrad.

“They said that they are willing to testify. I am very surprised because the three witnesses from Priboj did not appear in the courtroom,” Lecic said.

The Prosecutor suggested that the witnesses were rather poor and that transportation should be provided for them, while the witness from Visegrad, has difficulties walking.

“The indictee is under custody. The costs of the hearings are high. We are not in a position to drag out the whole process. I understand that you are the third prosecutor in this case, but you have to make sure that the three witnesses from Priboj will appear here next Tuesday,” Trial Chamber Chairman Darko Samardzic told the Prosecutor.

Indictee Krsmanovic addressed the Chamber, asking it to reconsider his request for undergoing a scan at a hospital, but it was explained that all indictees were deprived of that possibility according to a decision by the President of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, due to high costs.

The trial of Krsmanovic, former member of the Second Podrinje Light Infantry Brigade with the Republika Srpska Army, who is charged with having committed murders, rape and abuse of the Bosniak population in Visegrad, is due to continue on May 28.