Policeman’s Lawyer Urges Bileca Prisoner Abuse Acquittal

In his closing arguments on Monday, Zeljko Ilic’s lawyer asked for his client to be acquitted of abusing Bosniak and Croat prisoners of war in Bileca because he said the prosecution had failed to prove that he committed any crimes.

“He should be released,” said lawyer Milorad Rasevic.

Ilic’s lawyer Rasevic argued that the defence had proved that there were three policemen during the war with the name Zeljko Ilic.

According to Rasevic, the prosecution tried to prove two of the counts against his client by reading the testimonies of witnesses who had already died, but the living witnesses who came to testify did not confirm the allegations.

At the previous two hearings, the defence teams for the other two defendants, Goran Vujovic and Miroslav Duka, also asked for their clients to be acquitted of all charges, while the prosecution urged convictions for all three men.

Vujovic, Duka and Ilic are charged with abusing Bosniak and Croat prisoners of war in Bileca.

According to the charges, Vujovic was the police captain in the town, Duka the commander of a local police station and Ilic a policeman.
The court has set the verdict for July 4.

At a separate trial on Monday, a pathologist told the trial of a former Bosnian Serb fighter accused of killing a Bosniak in Prijedor that he found with 99 per cent certainty that human remains that were found in a mass grave belonged to victim Halil Dedic.

Pathologist Nermin Sarajlic said that after the remains were found, a DNA analysis was done, which led to his conclusion.

Asked by lawyer Nebojsa Pantic why the DNA analysis report said that the remains belonged to a victim from the ages of 25 to 60, while Dedic was 73 when he was killed, Sarajlic replied that those were estimates which do not have to be accurate.

Sarajlic was testifying at the trial of Dragoja Zmijanjac, a former Bosnian Serb fighter who is charged with killing Dedic at his home in Prijedor in July 1992.