Expert’s Evidence ‘Inadequate’

The prosecution’s military expert Ramiz Dugalic told the trial of Kovacevic on Wednesday that there was an armed operation by the Croatian Defence Forces (HVO) in the village Sijekovac on March 26, 1992, during which eight Serbs died.

Kovacevic, a former fighter with the First Bosanski Brod Brigade of the HVO, later known as the 101st Bosanski Brod Brigade of the HVO, is charged with participating in the attack on the village, where, together with others, he allegedly took 15 Serb adults and four children from their houses, some of whom were then killed.

But Dugalic argued that Kovacevic was only appointed as commander of the Third Battalion of the 101st Bosanski Brod Brigade on March 31, 1992, and therefore could not have had command responsibility for what happened in Sijekovac several days before that.

Presiding judge Davorin Jukic however interrupted the cross-examination of the military expert, saying that the findings in his report were inadequate because they did not refer to official wartime documents.

“The report does not refer to adequate sources, and therefore we will stop the examination. The expert should complete and specify his findings in the next 15 days,” said Jukic.

Dugalic’s cross-examination will resume on February 5.