Verdict in Petrovic Trial Scheduled for October 5

Petrovic, a former member of the Croatian Defense Council, has been charged with war crimes in the Konjic area. Petrovic allegedly arrested a Serb civilian named Nikola Magazin with another soldier in late May or early June 1992. They allegedly beat Magazin and forcibly took him to the Sudareva cave, where they killed him.

Islam Duvnjak testified at today’s hearing before the cantonal court of Mostar. Duvnjak described the circumstances of Nikola Magazin’s murder.

Duvnjak said he and his brother-in-law left the village of Dzepi looking for their horse. He said they went to Zvonko Tipuric’s house, where they saw Nikola Magazin. He said Magazin told them that Stanina’s forest had been set on fire. Duvnjak said when they entered Tipuric’s house, they heard a man shouting at the front of the house. The man called for the house’s owner.

“At that moment Zvonko and I went in front of the house and saw a young guy, around 20 years old, standing there. He was dressed in Croatian Defense Council uniform, had short hair and carried a new Kalashnikov rifle. Two other armed soldiers stood a bit further away from him. I didn’t see them very well. The soldier asked me what my name was. He asked my brother-in-law, who came out after us, the same question. Soon Nikola came outside as well. The soldier also asked him what his name was,” Duvnjak said.

According to Duvnjak, a short time later the soldier made a gesture with his automatic rifle, signalling to him and his brother-in-law to leave. He said he and his brother-in-law left in the direction of Zelene Njive. Duvnjak said said Magazin stayed behind with Tipuric, his wife and the soldiers.

Duvnjak said that five or six days later he heard that Magazin had gone missing.

In his closing statement, Sanel Pajevic of the cantonal prosecution of Mostar said Petrovic’s guilt had been established. He called upon the court to hand down a guilty verdict.

“The defendant committed the crime in question. He was aware of the fact that he committed a prohibited action. He wanted the action to be executed and acted with presumption,” Pajevic said. He asked the trial chamber to consider the following as mitigating circumstances: the fact that the defendant was a family man and that he had behaved in a correct manner during the trial proceedings.

The prosecutor asked the trial chamber to consider the manner in which the crime was committed as well as its brutality as aggravating circumstances.

In her closing statement, defense attorney Irena Pehar said the prosecution failed to establish her client’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. She asked the court for an acquittal.

“Not a single piece of testimony by any of the prosecution and defense witnesses supported the testimony given by protected witness A, which was fabricated to the detriment of the defendant for reasons known to that witness only. The prosecution has not managed to prove that the defendant committed the crime, but everything has remained in the sphere of suspicion and assumptions. The defense therefore believes that the court should hand down a verdict acquitting Marinko Petrovic of the charges. This man surely did not commit the crime charged upon him,” Pehar said.