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The first instance Trial Chamber of the Court of BiH acquitted Suad Kapic of the charges for war crimes against prisoners of war.
The State Prosecution charged Kapic, as member of the Third Battalion with the 517th Cazin Brigade of the Fifth Corps of BiH Army (ABiH), with having participated in the captivation of six members of the Republika Srpska Amry (VRS) and with having killed three and severely wounded one of them in Sanski Most municipality on September 18, 1995.
The indictment alleges that Suad “Hodza” Kapic ordered an unidentified ABiH soldier to kill the wounded.
Explaining the verdict of release, Trial Chamber Chairman Davorin Jukic said the Prosecution had not proved, beyond reasonable doubt, the factual description contained in the indictment or the indictee’s identity, and it failed to conduct an identification of the indictee.
Judge Jukic added that the statements given by two surviving captives, Milovan Mastikosa and Dragan Stupar, concerning this event were different.
“The indictment alleges that the indictee participated in the captivation, but the statements given by the survivors indicate that the person, known as Hodza, arrived there after they had been captivated. Mastikosa said that, following their arrest, they were taken to Hodza, while Stupar said that Hodza was invited to come there,” Chairman Jukic said, among other things.
He also explained that the statements given by the two survivors were not supported by evidence and that they were contradictory to the statements given by former members of the Fifth Corps and the statement given by Dr Mile Solaja, who performed an external examination of the corpses.
“The Court decided to trust Dr Solaja, who was able to remember the examination so many years after he had done it, because he knew two killed persons. Dr Solaja said that these persons’ hands were tied by wire and there were stabs on their bodies,” said judge Jukic.
The Trial Chamber Chairman also said that an exhumation of the remains was not conducted, in the course of the main trial, that would confirm if the captives had been murdered by firearms or blades.
Following the announcement of the verdict, Defence attorney Senad Kreho briefly said that he was satisfied with the outcome, adding that, in his explanation of the verdict, Chairman Jukic cited most parts of the Defence’s closing arguments referring to the contradictory statements.
