Stankovic Testifies In Own Defense, Denies Charges of Zavidovici Murder

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

Testifying in his own defense, Stankovic said he believed someone had persuaded Husanovic’s son, Rasko, to accuse him, his father-in-law and brother-in-law with setting his house on fire and killing his mother. He said he believed Husanovic’s son stood to gain something from these charges.

Stankovic said Husanovic’s son wanted to buy land from him in 2005, but gave up later on.

“Had I done it, would he have wanted to buy land from me? He said I saved him and that I practically took his mother for shooting. Only an insane man could do something like that,” Stankovic said.

Stankovic said he knew the Husanovic family well and that his family helped them.

He said there was no need for him to go to Kucice. He said his family left the village in June 1992, because it was too close to the frontline. He said one couldn’t get to the village by car, because Bosnian Army forces guarded the main road.

He said he was a member of the Bosnian Serb Army as of April 1992. He said he was a driver with the Motorized Battalion and didn’t serve alongside his father-in-law, who was a registrar. He said they “probably belonged to the same brigade, which covered a huge area.”

The court accepted the defense’s request to reexamine injured party Rasko Husanovic on the contradictory allegations contained in his testimony, that of the defendants and other witnesses.

The trial will continue on December 15.