Alic: Alleged Coercion

Samir Sakanovic, a Prosecution witness at the trial of Sefik Alic, said he saw Arabian citizen Tewfik al Harbi and two members of the Army of BiH escorting two captured Serbian soldiers during the “Oluja” military operation.However, he was not able to say on which date this happened.

The witness also said that he had “heard from other soldiers” that Alic was security officer in the “Hamze” unit. He claims that the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) officers showed him a document proving this allegation when they took his statement during the investigation.

Sakanovic said that the mentioned document “provided the information on the formation of ‘Hamze’ battalion”, while Alic was listed as “assistant commander for intelligence and security affairs”.

Alic is charged, in his capacity as assistant commander for security with the “Hamze” Battalion of the 505th Buzim Brigade, Fifth Corps of BiH Army, with having failed to investigate the murder of four prisoners of war, members of the Republika Srpska Krajina Army, in August 1995.

Arabian citizen Tewfik Al Harbi, who is currently on the run, is considered to have committed the murders.

Witness Sakanovic said that the two Serbian soldiers “did not have any bruises on their bodies”, but Tewfik “nudged” them and insulted them.

Testifying in the courtroom, the witness said that Tewfik “was not a member of the brigade, but he worked for a humanitarian agency”. He said that he was dressed in a “military uniform and he had a green band, which all BiH Army members had”.

Prosecutor Peter Kidd presented the witness’ statement, as given to SIPA, in which he said that Tewfik was a soldier, that he was always with the unit members and, subsequently, with “Hamze” battalion members.

“During the examination, SIPA investigators scared me by saying that there were two witnesses who could confirm that I had committed war crimes and that they would put me in custody if I did not give the statement,” said Sakanovic, adding that he “would not amend his statement given to SIPA investigators”.

Asked by the defence if there was a function of assistant battalion commander for security and intelligence affairs in the Army of BiH, the witness said that, to the best of his knowledge, there was no single function as such, but rather two separate functions.

The trial is due to continue on December 12.