Local Justice – Bejtic: Murders at Kazani

Testifying at the retrial of indictee Bejtic, Husein Hodzic, former Chief of Headquarters with the 115th Mountain Brigade of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, ABiH, said that he stuck with his statement given in 2007. Hodzic recalled having seen the murder of one person at Kazani, near Sarajevo during the course of the war, but he said that the indictee was not present at that location.
 
“I was present when Musan Topalovic, known as Caco, killed a man with a knife. I know that one more person was killed on that occasion, but I did not personally see it. I have never found out who the killed persons were. Samir Bejtic was not present at that location at that time,” Hodzic said.
 
The Sarajevo Cantonal Prosecution charges Bejtic, former member of the Tenth Mountain Brigade with ABiH, with having taken Zoran Vucurevic to a place close to the division line, which was controlled by ABiH, on December 25, 1992, killed him from a revolver, poured a diluent over his body and set the body on fire.
 
Among other things, the indictment alleges that Bejtic, who was accompanied by other ABiH members, participated in the beating of two civilians in the 10th Mountain Brigade Command in mid September 1993. It further alleges that they then took the civilians to Kazani and killed them.
 
Musan Topalovic, knonw as Caco, former Commander of the Tenth Mountain Brigade with ABiH, was killed in October 1993.
 
Samed Memovic, Fadil Hrkovic and Armin Hodzic, whose statements were presented at this hearing, said that they stuck with what they had said during the course of the previous trial.
 
In July 2006 the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo sentenced Samir Bejtic to 14 years and six months in prison for killing civilians at Kazani, Sarajevo. After the parties had appealed the verdict, the Supreme Court of the Federation of FBiH upheld the appeals and ordered a retrial in January 2007.
 
Following the retrial, in July 2008 Bejtic was acquitted of the charges that he committed murder, beating and abuse of civilians at Kazani.
 
The Cantonal Prosecution filed another appeal with the Supreme Court of FBiH in November 2010. The verdict was then revoked and a new trial before the Sarajevo Cantonal Court ordered.
 
The trial is due to continue on July 18, 2011.

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This article is made possible by the support of the American People through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID.) The contents of this article are the sole responsibility of Balkan investigative reporting network (BIRN) and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.