Rajko Blagojevic Trial Begins
This post is also available in: Bosnian
Blagojevic, a former assistant commander for security with the First Ozrenska Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army, has been charged with ordering unidentified soldiers to kill a Bosniak civilian in the village of Rajcevo in 1992.
At today’s hearing, prosecutor Redzo Delic said the prosecution would examine ten witnesses. He also said the prosecution would include material evidence and the findings of an expert witness in the case file. Delic said a military expert witness would deny the defendant’s claims that he was an officer with no authority to order the killing, and not an assistant commander.
Defense attorney Milan Romanic said that since the indictment stated that the claim that the order was issued to unidentified individuals was proof that the investigation hadn’t been conducted properly and that the indictment had been filed prematurely.
Defense attorney Milan Romanic said he would prove that prosecution witnesses had been in conflict with the defendant previously due to various reasons and therefore couldn’t be considered credible.
Romanic said the defendant, in his capacity as an officer for intelligence and security affairs, didn’t have the authority to issue orders. Romanic also said the defendant didn’t have effective control over the soldiers mentioned in the indictment. He said Blagojevic would testify in his own defense at the trial.
The indictment charges Blagojevic with ordering the murder of Hidajet Osmanagic, who was 72 years old at the time of his death.
According to the charges, three members of the First Ozrenska Brigade captured Osmanagic in his house in Jablanica in June 1992. He was allegedly escorted to the Brigade Command on the following day and handed over to the defendant.
Following Osmanagic’s examination, Blagojevic allegedly ordered that he be detained in a forester’s house in Rajcevo, where he was kept until this murder. He was killed with gunshots to the head and other body parts.
At the next hearing, scheduled for March 15, the first prosecution witness will be examined.
