Trial Postponed for Seven Months

Acting upon a state court order, court medical expert and surgeon Nikica Sutalo studied new documentation referring to Dragoslav Bojic’s health. Bojic recently had surgery in which a tumor was removed from his abdomen. The documents submitted to Sutalo include new findings from a radiologist and a haemathologyst, as well as a document confirming Bojic was admitted to a hospital on August 27, 2015, due to side effects caused by chemotherapy.

“The patient still has to undergo further chemotherapy, the last cycle…After that it’s necessary to allow for the expert examination of the complete original documentation as well as the patient himself and then make a final decision,” Sutalo said. He said the documents submitted to him thus far weren’t sufficient for a complete expert examination.

Bojic’s defense attorney, Milan Romanic, said he was in contact with the defendant every day. He said he had received his last round of chemotherapy and was currently being hospitalized due to his weak immune system. Romanic said he would also soon be undergoing a new CT scan.

Sutalo said this meant the trial chamber would have to wait approximately a month for a new examination.

“In the best case scenario, after that his illness may never return. In the worst case scenario, it can return in six months, but it’s still premature to discuss it,” Sutalo said.

Earlier in September the state prosecution filed a request to separate the case of Bojic from that of five other defendants. The defense teams objected to this proposal, as did the chamber, which rejected it.

Dragoslav Bojic, Savo Tepic, Dusko Maksimovic, Dusko Vujicic, Radojko Keverovic and Ilija Kurusic have been charged with participating in acts of detention, torture and other inhumane acts against Bosniaks and Croats in Kotor-Varos.

According to the charges, Tepic was the chief of the public safety station, Bojic was the commander of the police station in Kotor-Varos, Vujicic was a police officer, Maksimovic and Keverovic were reserve policemen, while Kurusic was a member of the Bosnian Serb Army.

The last time a witness was examined in the case was at a hearing held in February 2015. At that time the trial was postponed until further notice due to Bojic’s illness.

A new status conference will be held on November 2. At the next status conference the court expert’s final findings on Bojic’s health will be presented and a decision will be made on the further course of the trial.