Begovic’s Brother and Wife Testify in His Defense

Gligor Begovic, a former member of the Bosnian Serb Army, is on trial for participating in the beating of Bosniak civilians and prisoners of war in the Batkovic detention camp in the summer of 1992, as well as other crimes.

Mirko Begovic, the defendant’s brother, said he lived near Gorazde with Gligor and their parents. He said they had Bosniak neighbours that they socialized with and said he’d never seen his brother act violently.

Mirko Begovic said he spoke to his brother in April, when he came to Bijeljina. He said when they saw each other in Zvornik in 1992, his brother had long, black hair.

Radmila Begovic said she had been married to Gligor Begovic since 1999 and had three daughters. She said she wasn’t employed and lived off of her husband’s salary. She said he was never violent to any members of the family.

“There are Bosniak returnees in Rogatica. One [such] neighbour comes over coffee. We have good relationships with everybody,”she said.

Trial chamber chair Minka Kreho announced that the trial chamber had decided to change the order in which the evidence would be presented during the trial, since the prosecutor in the case was unavailable and had not informed the court on his plans for presenting his evidence.

“If the prosecutor responsible for this case doesn’t get in touch by Friday to share his proposal, the court will render a decision on his behalf,” Kreho said, referring to the examination of the two remaining prosecution witnesses, one of whom is mentally and physically disabled.

The trial will continue on September 9.