Kovacevic Trial Continues, Defense Witnesses Testify

“Bude [Budimir] threatened Petar, saying that he would send him to jail and that he would accuse him of all the things that Milan Lukic had committed,” Lugonja said.

The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina has charged Petar Kovacevic, a former member of the Army of Republika Srpska, with having participated in the murder, rape and unlawful arrest of civilians in Visegrad in May 1992.

Lugonja also said that Budimir had a drinking problem and that his relationship with Petar had been riddled with problems.

In the same hearing, second defense witness Jelisavka Petrovic spoke about incidents that took place when nationalist parties were established in Visegrad.

“On one occasion two buses stopped in front of the hotel in Visegrad. They searched the place and found a church flag, which they set on fire … I spotted Bakira Hasecic, among others. She was applauding,” said Petrovic, who served as the former vice president of the municipality of Visegrad.

Petrovic testified that Serb police officers were detained in the area’s hydro-electric plant and that Muslim formations killed about ten Serbs in the village of Jelasci in August 1992.

When asked by prosecutor Dzevad Muratbegovic whether she was present when these alleged incidents happened, Petrovic said that she was not.

“I wasn’t present when they arrested the policemen. I would have been arrested as well,” she explained.

Defense witness Bozo Tesevic said that the establishment of nationalist parties caused interethnic conflict in Visegrad.

“I was a policeman. I provided security at public gatherings…the speeches at those gatherings undermined mutual relations between people,” Tesevic said.

When asked by defense attorney Petko Pavlovic whether there were any violent incidents as a result, Tesevic said that three policemen were captured at a police station by Bosnian Muslim leader Murat Sabanovic.

“Murat’s group blocked the station. They requested that a suspect be released from detention. They were armed,” Tesevic said.

Tesevic also mentioned the destruction of a tunnel near Dobrun. He said that Murat Sabanovic’s group destroyed a monument in the town and threatened to open a nearby dam.

When asked by prosecutor Muratbegovic whether Serb municipal authorities in Visegrad had control over the town from May to June 1992, Tesevic answered affirmatively.

The trial is scheduled to continue on February 16.