SIMOVIĆ DOMISLIO Commanders who ordered shelling of civilians from Čemerno want to testify via video link from Belgrade!

By: A. Čorbo-Zećo

At the hearing in the "Čemerno" case held at the BiH Court, prosecutor Vladimir Simović read the statements of two deceased witnesses, after which a discussion about the future evidentiary proceedings ensued.

Namely, at the last hearing, prosecutor Simović stated that he wanted to question Velibor Blagojević and Momir Šikuljak via video link, but said nothing about it today, so the defense reacted.

Ifet Feraget, attorney for Enes Durak, requested that the Prosecution provide complete correspondence with the BiH Ministry of Justice, as they had requested Serbia's international assistance to question Blagojević and Šikuljak via video link.

"Five years ago, I sent a letter to Simović in the Čemerno case asking what was happening with the investigation regarding individuals who were at Čemerno as members of the then Serbian army. He said an investigation was underway. Given that the proposed witnesses are infantry commander Šikuljak and artillery commander Blagojević, against whom an investigation is underway, and today the prosecutor proposes them as witnesses, we insist that they be questioned here in the courtroom, i.e., directly," said Feraget.

After that, the presiding judge Minka Kreho ordered the prosecutor to submit complete documentation and an explanation as to why they are requesting a video link, and also asked what had been waited for all these years, as months are needed for the organization of testimony via video link.

The key question here is whether these individuals can be heard as witnesses, given that they should have been prosecuted for the indiscriminate shelling of civilians in Breza, Vareš, Visoko, Kakanj, and the surrounding areas of Sarajevo.

It has been established beyond doubt so far, and previously confirmed by Prosecution witness Neđo Marinković, that "if there had been no artillery at Čemerno, there would have been no attack," thus confirming that a military target was attacked at Čemerno, not civilians in the village.

Although most witnesses do not know who brought the howitzers and when, most confirmed that they were "firing" and that more than several hundred shells were fired from the howitzers. Also, according to relevant evidence and facts confirmed so far based on witness statements, out of 30 casualties at Čemerno, 27 were members of the VRS.

And just as in the Dobrovoljačka case, officers who occupied and intended to capture Sarajevo are testifying, so in the Čemerno case, commanders of the army that indiscriminately shelled civilians are testifying against members of the Army of RBiH who had only one goal in this operation – to destroy the howitzers, thereby protecting the civilians of Breza, Vareš, Ilijaš, and Kakanj.

Incidentally, the BiH Prosecutor's Office charges former members of the Territorial Defense (TO) and active and reserve police force – Džemal Hadžić, Teufik Turudić, Džemal Smolo, Senad, Haris, and Benjamin Sikira, Enes Durak, Mirsad, Nusret, and Mirzet Bešlija, and Hamdija Spahić and Nehru Ganić – with participating in a joint criminal enterprise in the village of Čemerno in June 1992.