Verdict against Guso and Suljagic Due July 15
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In her closing statement Prosecutor Ratka Djonlaga called on the Court to pronounce Guso and Suljagic guilty of abusing Branko Radenkovic, while the Defence teams called for a verdict of release, considering the fact that the injured party had changed his statement several times.
Prosecutor Djonlaga said that it had been proved, beyond reasonable doubt, that Guso and Suljagic, former members of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, abused Radenkovic, who was member of the First Posavina Brigade of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, at that time.
“By conducting an expert examination of Radenkovic, it was determined that the injured party experienced a trauma and that he was not inclined to telling lies. All of the pieces of evidence indicate that the indictees committed the crimes charged upon them. Therefore, the Court should pronounce them guilty and sentence them in accordance with the law,” Djonlaga said.
According to the charges, Guso and Suljagic, former members of the 108th Motorized Brigade with the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, ARBiH, beat prisoner of war Branko Radenkovic with their legs and batons while examining him on several occasions on August 3, 1994. Radenkovic was allegedly deprived of water and basic hygiene conditions for several days.
Presenting his closing statement, Ohro Music, Defence attorney of indictee Guso, said that injured party Radenkovic gave several statements and that he changed his statements frequently.
“I consider that Radenkovic has been instrumentalised in this case, because he is married to a Bosniak woman, so somebody probably persuaded him to feign all these accusations so he would not be accused of having co-operates with the enemy once he returned from detention to Serb territories,” Music said.
According to Music, the Prosecution has not proved that anybody subjected Radenkovic to abuse or physical and mental suffering during his detention in Maoca.
In his closing statement Osman Mulahalilovic, Defence attorney of indictee Suljagic, said that his client should be released, because an expert examination of Radenkovic determined that he had “light temporary bodily injuries”, which, according to the Defence attorney, was not sufficient for sentencing him for war crimes.
“Although Radenkovic said, in two of his statements, that he visited a doctor after having been released and that he had medical reports about his injuries, the Prosecution has never included such documents in the case file. This clearly proves that the injuries, which Radenkovic eventually got during his detention, were not of such intensity that they could be classified as a war crime,” Mulahalilovic said.
