Revenge for Brother

Witnesses Nezir Ahmic and Safet Halilovic appeared in court again, because the trial had begun anew due to a change in the composition of the Trial Chamber.

Ahmic said that, following a shooting on the military positions, which broke out when captives Edin and Edib Fejzic tried to flee, he was sent back to Orahovica village. While he was standing in front of a garage, he heard gunshots.

“The soldier, who was shooting, was turned away from us. He then turned towards us, looking distraught and shouting that he would kill everybody. Nikica Babic protected me by telling him: ‘You are not going to kill this man. If you kill him, kill me too’,” Ahmic said.

As he said, Babic told him that the soldier’s brother had been killed.

“Believe me, I cannot recognise the soldier. He was enraged. His face was distorted by anger,” Ahmic said.

Witness Safet Halilovic too was used for digging trenches while in detention.

“I heard someone say: ‘Here comes his brother. He will kill everybody’. They pushed us towards the kitchen. I heard burst fire and someone say: ‘There, he killed them’,” Halilovic said, adding that the soldier, who was shooting, was blonde.

He mentioned that, later on HVO soldiers said that “Muslims killed Pravdic and that his brother killed them”, adding that nobody mentioned any names.

Franjo Pravdic is charged with having killed prisoners of war in Orahovica village, Zepce municipality in August 1993.

The Prosecutor presented the two witnesses with their statements given during the investigation, when they identified Franjo Pravdic on photographs as the perpetrator.

The Defence objected, saying that their statements were manipulated with at that time and that Franjo Pravdic’s name was put upon them.

The Court accepted a Prosecution’s proposal to examine the investigators about the taking of those statements and determining the identity of the perpetrator at the next hearing.