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Serbian Democratic Party Wanted to Dismiss Godinjak, Witness Says

5. May 2015.00:00
A protected state prosecution witness said the Serbian Democratic Party had called for Edhem Godinjak to be dismissed from the post of Trnovo’s police chief.

This post is also available in: Bosnian

A protected state prosecution witness said the Serbian Democratic Party had called for Edhem Godinjak to be dismissed from the post of Trnovo’s police chief.

Edhem Godinjak, Medaris Saric, and Mirko Bunoza have been charged with participating in a joint criminal enterprise with the aim of killing and detaining Serb civilians in villages in the Trnovo area.

According to the charges, at the time Godinjak was the head of the public safety station in Trnovo, Saric was the commander of the Territorial Defense headquarters, while Bunoza was a commander of Croatian Defense Forces units.

A protected witness known as T, who is also a former member of the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS), testified at this trial. T said the party had requested that Edhem Godinjak be relieved from his post after Bosniak soldiers killed two police officers – a Bosniak and a Serb – in April 1992. T said party leaders thought Godinjak was involved in the killing of the two police officers.

T said the SDS has called for Godinjak’s dismissal before, and that he didn’t consider such demands justified.

“Some things behind their logic were not clear to me. I still find them unclear,” he said.

T said the situation in the village of Kijevo, located in the municipality of Trnovo, was peaceful until an attack on the village by Bosniak forces on July 7, 1992. T said on the day of the attack, he and his cousin, who were transporting supplies, came across an ambush in Strjista, near Kijevo. He said he was wounded and his cousin was killed.

“We were dressed in civilian clothing. They opened fire at us, but I don’t know with what kind of weapons,” T said. He said he was armed and carrying a revolver at the time.

T agreed with the defense that that particular location was an important stronghold of Serb forces in the Trnovo area. T also confirmed to defense attorney Vasvija Vidovic that he was transporting supplies to those forces.

T said that after being wounded, he underwent medical treatment and returned to the Trnovo area in July 1993, after the Bosnian Serb Army entered the town again. He said he saw Serbs who had been killed.

During T’s examination, the defense attempted to demonstrate that the SDS had begun preparing for war in Trnovo since 1991.

“Believe, I don’t know anything about it,” T said.

Defense attorney Edina Residovic presented T with documentation which she said indicated that the SDS had begun forming military formations and parallel authorities in the second half of 1991.

Residovic said the documents indicated that SDS members discussed arming the Serb population at a session held in the beginning of 1992, to which T said he didn’t remember such a session. He said there was fear among the party from the Territorial Defense, which was predominantly Bosniak.

The defense said it considered that preparations for war made by the SDS preceded an attack by the Bosnian Serb Army in the Trnovo area, which was populated by Bosniaks, in late May 1992.

T said the local population of Kijevo was cut off, so they didn’t know what was happening in Trnovo.

The trial will continue on May 26.

Amer Jahić


This post is also available in: Bosnian