ČEMERNO Simović wants fugitives from justice who fled to Serbia to testify via video link against members of the Army of RBiH

Written by: A-Čorbo-Zećo

Today's trial in the Čemerno case brought a new discussion about hearing the remaining prosecution witnesses who do not live in BiH. Defense attorneys Izet Baždarević and Ifet Feraget explicitly opposed the proposal of prosecutor Vladimir Simović to hear three witnesses via video link, stating that these are commanders of artillery units and key witnesses, and that they were previously under investigation.

The other defense teams also joined these objections. Although some media report that these are witnesses "who do not live in BiH," it is clearly about fugitives from justice who fled from BiH to the Republic of Serbia to avoid prosecution!

Regarding today's trial, attorney Ifet Feraget told Patria that in the previous six years, as long as this criminal proceeding has been ongoing, he has asked the presiding prosecutor Vladimir Simović ten times to provide him with evidence held by the Prosecutor's Office of BiH, but he has not received it to this day!

„The last time I asked the prosecutor for evidence related to the expert opinion of a military expert was on February 12, 2024, but I have not received that evidence either to this day!
Today I explicitly opposed the proposal of prosecutor Simović to hear key witnesses in this criminal case via video link from the Republic of Serbia, including, among others, the infantry commander at Čemerno, Momir Šikuljak, and the artillery commander at Čemerno, Velibor Blagojević. Namely, responding to my submission, prosecutor Simović informed me back on October 9, 2019, that the Prosecutor's Office of BiH is conducting an investigation against these individuals for war crimes against the civilian population, specifically the shelling of Brza, Ilijaš, Visoko, and municipalities within the city of Sarajevo.

For this reason, I believe that prosecutor Simović must explain why he then proposes that individuals responsible for placing artillery firing positions in a populated area and for shelling civilians and civilian targets, and who should have already been prosecuted for this, be heard as witnesses via video link from the Republic of Serbia!

This leads us to a situation where the prosecutor's office proposes individuals who should have been criminally prosecuted earlier and who fled to the Republic of Serbia for that reason as witnesses, who then have the right not to answer questions that would expose them to criminal prosecution!

Therefore, I asked the court to consider all these arguments when making a decision on prosecutor Simović's proposal that potential indictees and fugitives from justice, who are otherwise citizens of BiH, be heard as witnesses via video link from the Republic of Serbia“, Feraget said.

After that, the presiding judge, Minka Kreho, ordered prosecutor Simović to provide a written statement before the court's final decision on whether an investigation is being conducted against the mentioned individuals and for what reasons they cannot come before the Court of BiH to be heard as witnesses!

Those indicted for the crimes in Čemerno are Džemal Hadžić, Teufik Turudić, Džemal Smolo, Senad, Haris and Benjamin Sikira, Enes Durak, Mirsad, Nusret and Mirzet Bešlija, and Nehru Ganić.