Milisavljevic was a ‘Brave and Honourable Fighter’

Lawyer Dragisa Mihajlovic said in his closing statement to the Sarajevo court on Tuesday that the prosecution had failed to prove that Milisavljevic had participated in the beatings and sexual abuse of prisoners at the police station in Visegrad or killed dozens of Bosniak civilians at the Paklenik pit in 1992.

“Predrag Milisavljevic was a brave and honourable fighter in the war, who demonstrated heroism,” Mihajlovic said.

“He even refused to accept a reward for his effort, saying that there are people who deserve it more – like the families of the fighters who died. Being like that, he would never have let himself carry out the abuse of prisoners or murders,” he added.

Milisavljevic is charged, together with fellow former police reservist Milos Pantelic and ex-soldier Ljubomir Tasic, with having participated in the murders and persecution of Bosniak civilians from the Visegrad area.

But his lawyer Mihajlovic argued that prosecution witnesses who testified about beatings and sexual abuse at the Visegrad police station “contradicted each other”.

He also said that the only survivor of the killings of Bosniaks at the Paklenik pit, who arrived in a convoy which was allegedly secured by Milisavljevic, had made “major changes in different statements”.

The witness “did not mention Predrag Milisavljevic in the statement he gave in 1992” although he named 17 other Serbs, the lawyer said.

“Milisavljevic was mentioned in 1997 for the first time. Therefore the defence asks, how is it possible that the witness did not remember such a thing [in 1992] when his memory was fresh?” said Mihajlovic.

Pantelic’s defence will present its closing arguments on September 2.