Protected Witness ‘Refused to Alibi Bosnian Serb Soldier’

Defence witness Igor Cicovic testified on Tuesday that several years ago he shared a prison cell in Kula with Krsmanovic and a protected witness in the trial codenamed OZ-1 who could have helped to prove the defendant’s innocence.

He said that OZ-1 told them at the time that he knew that Krsmanovic was not guilty of the murder of a group of Bosniaks from the Serbian village of Sjeverin who were killed in Visegrad in Bosnia in 1992.

“I remember that OZ-1 said: ‘Oliver, what are they accusing you of? I know that you did not do it,’” Cicovic recalled.

“[OZ-1] said that he and his mother watched the murder of those people from Sjeverin and that he saw that they were brought by tractor, not by truck, as alleged in the Krsmanovic’s indictment. He said that he knew that Krsmanovic was not present at that place,” he added.

According to Cicovic, Krsmanovic then asked OZ-1 to testify in his defence, but he refused, so they quarreled.

OZ-1 testified at Krsmanovic’s trial on July 15 this year, when he said that he did not personally see the murder of the civilians, but found out from his parents that between 15 and 20 civilians had been killed and dumped near their house.

Former Bosnian Serb Army serviceman Krsmanovic is charged with having participated in the kidnapping of 16 civilians from Sjeverin from a bus in October 1992.

The indictment alleges that the civilians were taken to Vilina Vlas hotel in Visegrad, where they were tortured and killed on the banks of the River Drina.

Following Cicovic’s testimony, Krsmanovic asked the court to open an investigation into witness OZ-1 for giving false testimony.

But presiding judge Darko Samardzic responded by saying that the court “is not responsible for opening investigations”.

The trial of Krsmanovic, who is also charged with other crimes in the Visegrad area, is due to continue on September 2.