Jevic et al: Witness Disputes Number of Victims

Defence expert witness Ljubisa Simic said that this number included 56 bodies which were found in the Zeleni Jadar secondary mass grave. He said that results of a DNA analysis confirmed that parts of remains of those people were also found in Ravnice and Glogova mass graves.

According to his findings, the number of identified persons whose remains were found in those primary graves, was half that determined by Prosecution expert witness Vedo Tuco, who mentioned 1,076 bodies.

“The Prosecution expert witness included 560 identified people whose remains were found in secondary graves in the total number. He tried to link those people with Glogova. However, the DNA analysis confirmed that only 56 bodies originated from Glogova. As far as the others are concerned, this is only an assumption,” said Simic, who works at the Neurosurgery Clinic in Banja Luka.

During the course of the trial, the Prosecution presented evidence indicating that bodies of Bosniak men who were killed in Kravica on July 13 and 14,were buried in Glogova and then transferred to secondary graves.

The State Prosecution’s indictment alleges that more than 1,000 men were killed in the Agricultural Cooperative warehouse in Kravica. Dusko Jevic, Mendeljev Djuric, Goran Markovic and Nedjo Ikonic are on trial for participation in those murders and the forcible resettlement of the Bosniak population from the Srebrenica area.

It is alleged that Jevic was Commander of the Jahorina Training Centre with the Special Brigade of Republika Srpska police, Djuric and Ikonic were company Commanders with that unit and Markovic was a squad Commander.

Expert witness Simic, who testified at the request of Djuric’s Defence, said that he made his findings and opinion on the basis of forensic reports prepared by the Hague Tribunal and International Commission for Missing Persons, ICMP.

“I took their opinion and went through the data… The cause of death of one fifth of the people, or 120 people, was not determined,” Simic said, adding that the reports prepared by Hague forensic experts mentioned injuries caused by infantry weapons, grenades and other mine-thrower ammunition, but not bombs, as causes of death.

The expert witness said that the examination of remains showed that 14 people were handcuffed and blindfolded.

During the course of cross-examination by the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the expert witness said that he was not an expert in court medicine by vocation. Prosecutor Remzija Smailagic said that she objected to his findings, adding that she would provide a more detailed explanation in her closing statement.

The trial is due to continue on June 13.

M.T.