Kovacevic Never Left Frontline, Witnesses say
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The Bosnian state prosecution has charged Petar Kovacevic, a former member of the Bosnian Serb Army, with participating in the murder, rape, and unlawful arrest of civilians in Visegrad in May 1992.
Zoran Savic, the first defense witness, said Kovacevic didn’t have a command position.
“I don’t know whether the indictee [Kovacevic] could go somewhere [else] for a longer period…He was with the Third Company in Drinsko all the time,” Savic said.
In response to defense attorney Petko Pavlovic, Savic said he’d never heard that Kovacevic had burned down houses and raped women. Savic said he was aware that there were was an intervention platoon manned with volunteers, and that the platoon’s commander was Dragan Savic.
“They came to Drinsko but they rarely stayed there…Kovacevic was not a member of that platoon,” Savic said.
Davorin Jukic, the chairman of the trial chamber, asked Savic whether volunteers in the intervention platoon committed acts of murder or rape. Savic said he’d never heard that that was the case, and said he didn’t know if such cases had taken place.
The second defense witness, Dusan Vidakovic, said he was with Kovacevic on the frontline at Drinsko and that they were tasked with defending the frontline.
Vidakovic said Kovacevic didn’t have command responsibility and that he’d never heard that Kovacevic went to other villages and burned houses.
The third defense witness, Slavisa Berijan, described the problems Kovacevic had with his brother Budimir.
“As sector leader of the police station, I often went out into the field, and I went to the indictee and his brother to intervene…Petar had problems with his brother, mostly disputes regarding property and legal issues,” Berijan said. Berijan said Budimir Kovacevic was prone to alcohol abuse.
Berijan said that Budimir had threatened that he would take revenge on his brother, by publicizing events related to the war.
“He [Budimir] mentioned that Petar was with Milan Lukic,” Berijan said.
The next hearing will be held on March 15.
