Tripkovic Deemed Capable of Following Trial

“No signs of temporary or permanent mental disease have been observed…He is capable of participating in the proceedings in an adequate manner…He is certainly a person capable of making logical conclusions,” said neuropsychiatrist Omer Cemalovic.

He said Tripkovic was wounded during the war and that wartime events influenced his physical and mental health. He said his tolerance to frustration was reduced. He therefore recommended that hearings do not last longer than two hours.

Cemalovic conducted a medical examination of Tripkovic in collaboration with his colleagues, Zorica Lazarevic and Radojka Golijanin. The findings were made on the basis of a psychiatric interview from May 2014, as well as a review of Tripkovic’s medical documentation.

The expert examination was conducted upon the request of the defense.

Tripkovic is serving an eight-year prison sentence for having committed crimes in Foca. He and Zoran Bjelica have been charged with participating in the murder and torture of Bosniak civilians who were detained in the Miladin Radojevic school building in Kalinovik in August 1992.

The Bosnian state prosecution has charged Tripkovic and Bjelica with having committed those crimes as soldiers of the Bosnian Serb Army.

The trial will continue on April 15.