Kapic: Defence Objects To Prosecution Claims

The trial of Suad Kapic, a former member of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina accused of crimes against prisoners of war in 1995, has got underway with the reading of the indictment and opening statements.

The indictment claims that Suad “Hodza” Kapic was a member of the 5th Corps of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ABiH).

The Prosecution believes that on September 18, 1995, during the military operation “Sana 95” in the Sanski Most area, Kapic was involved in the capture of six members of Army of Republic Srpska
(VRS) and Ministry of Internal Affairs of RS, who were later murdered.

Kapic “murdered three members of VRS and then he ordered another soldier kill one more”, it is claimed. The surviving soldiers were then handed over to the Recon-commandos platoon of 517 brigade of the ABiH 5th Corps.

“Four prisoners were killed shortly after their capture. Instead of handing them over to the designated authorities, the prisoners were killed in a cruel way,” Prosecutor Milorad Barasanin explained in his opening speech.

Defence attorney Senad Kreho has objected to the claims in the indictment, and has called for the prosecution to prove that the nickname “Hodza” is Kapic’s true one, as stated in the indictment.

“Hodza has never been the indictee’s nickname, and this can be verified at his birthplace and place of residence. Also the statements given by two surviving members of the VRS do not imply that Suad Kapic captured and murdered members of the VRS,” stated Kreho

Izet Sovic, the first Prosecution witness to be summoned, told the Court that he was a member of the Recon-commandos (storm trooper) platoon called “Apaci” (apaches) under the command of Ibrahim Nadarevic, the 517th brigade commander. Sovic confirmed his involvement in the military operation “Sana 95”, but could not remember the details, stating that he had run away from the frontline several times.

“The VRS was hitting us with their full strength and assets in order to retrieve lost positions, so I ran home several times and because of that, was arrested by the police,” stated the witness.

Sovic denied that anybody in his unit had the nickname “Hodza”.

The Prosecution asked the witness if any religious officials within the corps. Sovic confirmed this, stating that a religious official existed and that he was designated only for religious matters – that is, he served as a morale officer and was a non-combatant.

During the direct examination, the witness stated that he had heard about incidents that took place in Mreznica and Dabar areas from the prosecutor during the investigation.

Nevertheless, during the later cross-examination, Sovic stated that he had heard about these places from policemen that had apprehended him after he has run away from the frontline, where he heard “where my brigade is positioned”.

When asked by the Defence if the witness knew the indictee, Sovic replied that he did not know who they were talking about until the Prosecutor showed the witness a photo of the indictee during the investigation.

“He was familiar to me but I did not know who he was exactly,” said the witness. “He was not in my unit and we were never together.”

Following a request for clarification from the Trial Chamber, the witness said that he “saw Kapic a couple of times”, “passing by” on the frontline. However, the witness said that he did not know which unit Kapic belonged to.

The trial will continue on January 24, 2008, when the Prosecution will examine five more witnesses.