Material Evidence Presented at Rogatica War Crimes Trial
This post is also available in: Bosnian
The prosecution has charged Radomir Markovic, Mile Kusic, Dragan Bozovic, Sasa Perkovic, Radomir Gluhovic, Pero Radovic, Ilija Vukasinovic and Milos Vukasinovic, with searching and pillaging houses in the villages of Karacici, Vragolovi and Golubovici in collaboration with a few other unidentified persons on September 18, 1992.
They allegedly found approximately 20 Bosniak civilians hiding in a garage in Karacici. According to the indictment, the defendants beat the civilians with rifle butts and then pushed them into a nearby barn, where they were killed.
According to the indictment, Markovic was the commander of the Socicka Company of the Rogaticka Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army, while the other defendants were members of that unit.
At today’s hearing, the state prosecution presented a warning which was sent by the Command of the Sarajevsko-Romanijski Corps to Rajko Kusic, the former commander of the Rogaticka Brigade. The warning prohibited Kusic from undertaking any independent actions in the municipality of Rogatica and was issued on May 23, 1992. The existence of the state of war in Rogatica was indicated in the order.
Last year an indictment was filed against Kusic, charging him with war crimes in Rogatica. He is not available to judicial bodies in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The prosecution also presented a map of the municipality of Rogatica, which indicated the location of Karacici and the Socicka Company’s zone of responsibility. The defense teams objected to relevance and authenticity of this evidence.
A limited amount of evidence was presented at today’s hearing due to the absence of court expert Zdenko Cihlarz. He failed to appear in court again due to obligations in other cases.
The trial will continue on December 22.
