Former Bosnian Army Fighter Dulic Trial Begins
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Witness Ferida Beganovic said that the Fifth Corps of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina arrived to the village of Beganovici in the winter of 1993, where “the autonomous region’s army” had been located.
On the night following the Fifth Corps’ arrival, Beganovic said she asked protected witness S-1 to come to her house. She had sent her children to her parents, and wanted company as well as food for her children.
Beganovic said she was sitting with S-1, when three or four soldiers came to her home and asked her to make them coffee. She said that the room was lit by a candle and that she did not recognize them.
“They said that there was some woman with six children between the division lines. They said they were going to that place and invited S-1 to show them the house. She left with them,” Beganovic said. According to Beganovic, S-1 had said that she would go with them to help them evacuate the woman.
Beganovic said that soldiers used the second floor of her house during the war. She said that she didn’t hear anything after they left.
When asked by the defense whether she could identify the defendant in the courtroom, Beganovic said that she didn’t know him personally, but she had heard that he had been at the frontline.
According to the indictment, Dulic and two Bosnian Army fighters came to a house where S-1 was located in December 1993. They told her that she should come with them. S-1’s husband was a member of the National Defence of the Western Bosnia Autonomous Region.
The indictment alleges that when S-1 refused to come with him, Dulic took her to the upper floor of the house, where he beat and raped her. Another Bosnian Army member then raped her as well. Dulic is charged with having raped the injured party again when she tried to leave the house.
“I have nothing to do with it. I shall prove it,” Dulic said at the beginning of the trial.
Prosecutor Vedrana Mijovic said in her introductory statement by examining witnesses and presenting material evidence, she will prove the defendant’s guilt. Defense attorney Ilijads Midzic said that the defense would not present its introductory statement and that it planned to prove that there was a mix up of identities in this case.
The trial will continue on February 20.
