Wounding of Indictee Rackovic

Zarko Krsmanovic told the Court that he was wounded in the vicinity of Kocarim village, Visegrad municipality, on July 19, 1992 and that he was then transported, together with indictee Rackovic, to a dispensary.
 
“When they carried me into the minivan, Rackovic was already there. I was severely wounded, while his injuries were lighter. He held his hand and said that it hurt,” Krsmanovic said, adding that they were transported to the Dispensary, where the witness’ sister admitted them as a physician on duty.
 
Krsmanovic said that he had known the indictee from before the war, as his students’ parent.
 
Rackovic, a former member of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, is charged with having participated in attacks on Bosniak villages, detention, torture, forced disappearances of persons from the Visegrad area, as well as rape, in the period from May to the end of August 1992.
 
The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, BiH, alleges that some of the unlawfully arrested persons have never been found, while bodies of some of the civilians were exhumed at Slap location in Zepa in 2000.
 
Second Defence witness Stanimir Zecevic said that the indictee was wounded in July 1992.
 
“Following the wounding, I did not see him for a bit longer than a month. Later on he was wounded again during an attack in Donja Lijeska,” he said.
 
Zecevic said that mobilisation began after the departure of the Uzice Corps from the Visegrad area in May 1992 and that he was recruited by the Fourth Company. As he said, the indictee was member of the same unit.  
 
He mentioned that, in 1992 he went to Orahovci village, where they were supposed to “move the division line”, and that he saw Rackovic next to a local shop in that village. The witness said that he then went to Zaglavak, where he stayed for about 40 days.
 
Defence witness Nenad Trifkovic said that he worked with the “Granit” Company, just like the indictee, and that Rackovic was an assistant construction machine operator. He said that Rackovic did not have a driver’s license and that he had never seen him driving a car.
 
He too said that Rackovic was wounded during the war and that he underwent a long-lasting medical treatment afterwards.  
 
The trial is due to continue on December 10.