Cehic Testifies In Own Defense, Says He Didn’t Participate in Prisoner Abuse

Hasib Cehic, a former member of the National Defense of the Western Bosnia Autonomous Region, has been charged with the physical abuse of two captured members of the Bosnian Army in Pecigrad in the municipality of Cazin on July 16, 1994.

Cehic has also been charged with the inhumane treatment of five captured members of the military police of the Fifth Corps of the Bosnian Army. He allegedly physically abused the captives in the village of Zagrad in the municipality of Velika Kladusa on June 21, 1995.

Testifying in his own defense at today’s hearing, Cehic told the cantonal court of Bihac that he worked with the police and drank a lot at the time.

“I didn’t participate in combat activities. I was a minivan driver. My task was to drive people. I never had a chance to see prisoners. I never entered the basement which is mentioned here. I’m not saying they weren’t beaten, but I’m not the sadist who beat them,” Cehic said.

Cehic said he was the commander’s escort in June 1995.

“My task was to watch his back. Our command was situated 200 meters away from the house where the police were located. My brother Mujo was the commander. The two of us are totally different. I didn’t even know those men had been captured. I didn’t go there to see them,” Cehic said.

The court accepted a proposal by the defense to have a neuropsychiatrist examine Cehic’s mental health at the time of the crime. Cehic claims he knows nothing about the event and does not remember anything from that time.

The date of the next hearing will be set once the expert examination has been completed.