Defendants Object to Witness Testimony on Kucice Murder

Ranko Rakic, Zeljko Rakic and Marko Stankovic, all former members of the Bosnian Serb Army, have been charged with the murder of Zuhra Husanovic in the village of Kucice, in the municipality of Zavidovici, in late August or early September 1992.

During the cross-examination of witness Azim Sinanovic, who’d previously testified for the prosecution, the defense teams claimed his testimony was procedurally inadmissible.

Sinanovic began testifying in late April this year. In his testimony Sinanovic had said that based on the positions of various units and the configuration of the terrain in Kucice,  Zuhra Husanovic couldn’t have possibly been killed by a sniper in the midst of cross-fire between military positions.

At this hearing, Sinanovic said he completed military school and had inspected the terrain a month ago, as per a request by an inspector from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Zenica-Doboj Canton. The defense teams objected to Sinanovic’s testimony, and said it represented an amendment to the investigation, which had already been completed.

Sinanovic is the last cantonal prosecution witness to testify. The defense teams told the chamber how many witnesses they would invite to testify.

The defense of Ranko Rakic said it would examine four witnesses regarding the murder of Zuhra Husanovic and military positions in Kucice. Zeljko Rakic’s defense said it would examine four witnesses and present material evidence which would demonstrate that Rakic was in Germany when the murder took place.

Stankovic’s defense said it would provide information concerning its evidence at a later stage.

The trial will continue on June 8.