Extension of Prohibiting Measures for Petar Kovacevic Requested

The Prosecution requested the Court to extend measures, banning Kovacevic, former member of the Republika Srpska Army, from leaving Visegrad and obliging him to report to police once a week.

Prosecutor Mirza Hukeljic said that closest family members of the indictee lived in Serbia and witnesses said that a number of suspects lived in Serbia.

The Prosecution of BiH has charged Kovacevic with having persecuted the Bosniak population by participating in detention, murders and rape, as well as a large-scale destruction of property.

“Kovacevic is charged with having participated, along with a group of armed soldiers, in an attack against the Bosniak population in Visegrad municipality and surrounding villages – Zlatnik, Turjak and Zanozje, where two civilians were killed from firearms. During the attack, houses, in which three women were burnt, were set on fire by being shot at from firearms,” the indictment alleges.

Kovacevic is charged with having killed a civilian in Dobrun village, Visegrad municipality, and raped two women.

Defence attorney Petko Pavlovic said that he considered the proposed prohibiting measures unnecessary.

“He has respected these measures for nine months. He has done nothing to breach them. He does not possess a passport or citizenship of another country. He has serious health problems. The Prosecution points out that a large number of accomplices are not available. The fact that third parties are not available should not aggravate Kovacevic’s position,” Pavlovic said.