Defence Expert Witness against Prosecutor’s Conclusions

Hadrovic’s Defence invited Bruno Franjic, an expert in ballistics, to testify in an attempt to prove that the indictee did not hit civilian Sekula Poletan with a rifle butt, as alleged under the indictment. It is further alleged that Poletan was then killed by indictee Fadil Dajic.

The expert witness said that the findings were based on photo documentation and a report on the killed man’s exhumation, indicating that the photographs were not made in accordance with the rules of ballistics.

In his opinion, the injuries to the man’s head were caused by a firearm projectile, not by the person being hit with a rifle butt of such a firearm.

On the basis of an approximate path of the projectile the expert witness determined that one bullet grazed, while another one hit the victim in his temporal bone and came out in the area of his jaw.

Following the examination of the expert witness, Hadrovic’s Defence attorney Anto Grgic said that the Prosecution should have requested an expert examination in order to avoid wrong accusations. The Prosecution refused to cross-examine the expert witness, because it considered that this was an unlawful piece of evidence and that the Defence did not have the right to request the expert examination at this stage of the proceeding.

The Prosecution further defined the indictment, changing the date of the commission of the crime from June 10 to June 9, 1993. Hadrovic, former policeman, and Fadil Dajic, former member of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, ABiH, are charged with having killed civilian Sekula Poletan in Plandiste village on that date.

The presentation of closing statements is scheduled for June 13.