Buljubasic Refuses to Appear at Trial

The Trial Chamber announced that indictee Buljubasic, who was serving his sentence in the Penal and Correctional Facility in Zenica for having committed another crime, refused to appear in Court “without giving any specific explanation”.
 
Although the Chamber previously rendered a decision that the trial could be continued in case Buljubasic refused to appear without providing a valid reason, Defence attorney Dzema Hasanagic said that she could not examine the witness.
 
“I was with the indictee at the Zenica Facility yesterday. We prepared questions for this witness. He has got all of the questions. He was supposed to examine the witness. I cannot examine the witness, as I neither have the questions nor my client’s consent,” Hasanagic said.
 
She said that she spoke to the indictee prior to the beginning of the hearing and that he told her that he would not appear before the Court of BiH, because “the Facility staff did not wake him up on time.”
 
Buljubasic, former member of the Croatian Defence Forces, HOS, is on trial, along with Ivan Zelenika, Srecko Herceg, Ivan Medic and Marina Grubisic-Fejzic, for having committed crimes against Serb prisoners in Dretelj in 1992.
 
The Prosecution alleges that they participated in forcing detainees to perform forced labour and torturing them. Several persons died due to the consequences of the abuse.
 
The indictment alleges that Zelenika was a HOS officer, Herceg was Commander of Dretelj, Buljubasic was Deputy Commander of the military barracks in Dretelj, while Medic and Grubisic-Fejzic were former guards.
 
Although the Trial Chamber offered to the Defence teams of the other indictees to examine this witness if they wanted to, they refused to do it, explaining that they were not ready. Trial Chamber Chairwoman Enida Hadziomerovic said that the witness would be examined at the next hearing.  
 
The last hearing, at which this witness was due to testify, was postponed as well but the postponement was due to the absence of the witness.
 
The continuation of the trial is scheduled for August 19 due to the upcoming holiday season.