Pravdic Retrial Has Begun
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The Supreme Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina repealed a first instance verdict which sentenced Pravdic to 11 years in prison. Under the first instance verdict, Pravdic, a former member of the Croatian Defense Council, was found guilty of murdering two captives to avenge his brother’s murder on August 5, 1993.
Pravdic’s defense agreed that the evidence presented during the first instance trial should be presented again at the retrial. The defense also requested that violations of certain provisions be corrected, in order to allow the defense to present the evidence it previously insisted upon and to exclude all unlawful evidence.
The trial chamber singled out two instances of unlawful evidence, namely an official note issued by a crime investigation team regarding the identification of the perpetrator and a statement given by a witness to the State Investigation and Protection Agency.
The court accepted the defense’s proposal to review a photo of the defendant which was taken immediately after the incident described in the indictment. The court also accepted a proposal by the defense to examine a witness named Ana Pravdic, with regards to the date of the photo.
The cantonal prosecution of Zenica requested that witnesses be shown this photo. The trial chamber will render a decision concerning this request at a later stage.
The trial will continue on November 5.
