Dulic Claims Mistaken Identity in His Case

Testifying in his own defense, Dzevad Dulic said he didn’t commit rape and wasn’t in the village of Beganovici when the alleged rape took place.

Dzevad Dulic, a former member of the 510th Bosnian Liberation Brigade of the Fifth Corps of the Bosnian Army, has been charged with the rape of a woman in the Cazin area, along with two other persons, in December 1993.

During his testimony, Dulic described how he felt when he first heard that he’d been charged with rape.

“It was a shock to me,” Dulic said.

Dulic said he joined the 510th Brigade at the beginning of the spring of 1994. He said “Beganovici wasn’t important for my war path.”

The defendant said there were four other persons named Dzevad Dulic in the area. He said one of them, a former member of the 510th Brigade, was older than him and another was younger. He also said there was another person with the same name as him who he “found on the Internet.”

Dulic claimed he received threats from another man named Dzevad Dulic over the phone and face to face, through a mediator. He said this other man’s mother also visited his mother.

Dulic said one of the messages he received from the other Dzevad Dulic read: “If I go to prison, you are dead.”

The trial chamber asked Dulic what this other man looked like. Dulic said he had photos of him, and described him as skinny, with round eyes, and of the same height and hair colour as him. Dulic said he’d known this other man since childhood.

“My last violent act happened when I was 13,” Dulic said, specifying that he had gotten into a fight with another boy on that occasion.

The defense presented a certain number of documents, including wartime photographs of the defendant and the other man named Dulic, in an attempt to prove the existence of several persons with Dulic’s first and last name in the Bihac area.

The prosecution announced the examination of four witnesses, including the other man named Dzevad Dulic. The prosecution said it expected the other Dzevad Dulic to deny the claims made by the defense.

The defense objected, but the trial chamber approved the proposal.

The trial will continue on May 15.