Witness Dissociates from His Previous Statement

Testifying at the trial for crimes in Kalinovik, former guard in “Miladin Radojevic” school building, says that none of the three indictees visited the building during his shifts.

Prosecution witness Slavko Lalovic said that he saw indictee Marinko Bjelica for the first time on TV and that he had never seen Zoran Bjelica. He said that he met Novica Tripkovic in the Penal and Correctional Facility in Foca, where they were both serving their sentences.
 
Lalovic was previously sentenced to five years in prison for having committed crimes in Kalinovik, while Tripkovic is serving his eight-year sentence for crimes in Foca.
 
The witness was presented with a statement he gave to the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, BiH, on July 1, 2010 in which he said that he was in the school building with Obren Djorem one evening, when Marinko Bjelica came and said that he had lost two sons.
 
“Obren Djorem said that. This is the first time I see him. Marinko Bjelica never came during my shift,” Lalovic said.  
 
He pointed out that he gave the statement to the Prosecution under pressure by the then Defence attorney Slavica Cvoro in order to be allowed to defend himself while at liberty, because, as he said, he was abused in a prison in Tuzla.
 
Lalovic said that he was not able to remember whether he heard from Danilo Djorem in the school building, as indicated in his statement, that four persons had been killed and that Marinko Bjelica had killed them.  

The statement, which the Prosecution presented and included in the case file, was not signed by the Prosecutor and Defence attorney, so the Defence teams objected to its inclusion in the case file as evidence.
 
The Bjelicas and Tripkovic, former members of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, are charged with having participated in the murder and torture of Bosniak civilians, who were held in the “Miladin Radojevic” school building in Kalinovik, in August 1992.
 
Lalovic, who was examined in presence of a legal counsellor, said that he knew some of the Bosniak prisoners, including Sejdo Keso.

“It seems to me that Sejdo Keso was on the first floor of the school. (…) I do not know what happened to him, but I heard from Obren Djorem that he was there and that his destiny was sealed,” Lalovic said.
 
He mentioned that he did not know what happened to prisoners Edin Bico and Hasim Hatic or a veterinarian from Gacko either.
 
The trial is due to continue on September 24.