Orić and Muhić Case: O1 Admits to Knowingly Lying in Testimonies!

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - In the retrial of Naser Orić and Sabahudin Muhić for crimes committed in Bratunac and Srebrenica, protected witness of the State Prosecutor's Office O1 answered cross-examination questions from defense attorneys.

Right at the beginning of the examination, attorney Lejla Čović pointed to 11 final verdicts for various criminal offenses, which the witness confirmed, as well as the fact that he had served prison sentences twice in Tuzla.

The attorney also highlighted that the protected witness of the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina had previously been convicted for false reporting, and asked the witness if he was aware that the Municipal Court in Banovići had issued a warrant for his arrest, to which the witness replied that it was "a done deal." 

What is indicative is that the key witness of the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, i.e., prosecutor Miroslav Janjić, admitted that he had given statements on several occasions regarding different circumstances and that he had also spoken at the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina with former chief prosecutor Goran Salihović. 

- I don't even know how many times I gave statements. I just talked, and they decided which cases to prosecute. I also spoke with Goran Salihović, earlier with SIPA, various prosecutors, and then that statement at the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, when the woman asked me - said O1.

Čović noted that the defense had received only two statements from the Prosecutor's Office, and that there is no record of others, to which Janjić said that O1 spoke with Salihović when he entered the witness protection program.

The defense repeatedly pointed out contradictions and different versions of O1's stories, and this witness told the court that he had previously been afraid to "say that Naser was personally the perpetrator of some murders, although even in those statements he also referred to Orić, for example, saying that Orić ordered that everything walking on two legs be killed in Kravica." When asked by Čović how he was not afraid to say that, the witness stated that "by the woman, he could not tell the truth."

- Only when I received a promise and guarantees for protection that I was entering the witness protection program did I start telling everything - said O1. 

- In August 2015, you were under protection, why didn't you tell the truth then? The statements regarding the acquaintance between you and Milutin Milošević are contradictory, then what Milošević was wearing when he was killed, you never mentioned before that the body was supposed to be sprinkled with lime - pointed out Čović.

Via video link from Belgrade, witness O1 spoke about his movements from Bratunac to the Srebrenica region, and his affiliation with the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, specifically the unit he belonged to, was also problematized. The defense claimed, and subsequently a document from the Federal Ministry for Veterans' Affairs, signed by O1, was shown on an overhead projector, stating that he was wounded twice on October 13, 1992, in Cerska and on December 11, 1992, at Crni vrh.

The defense wanted an explanation of how, just three days later, on December 14, 1992, he could personally witness events in Kunjerac when Mitar Savić was killed, having previously said he could not get up for seven days.
O1 said he cannot give exact dates but confirmed that it was the period from the beginning of December.

Incidentally, Orić is charged together with Sabahudin Muhić with the murder of three prisoners of Serbian nationality in the villages of Zalazje, Kunjerac, and Lolići. According to the indictment, Orić and Muhić committed these crimes as members of the Territorial Defense (TO) of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In Zalazje, Slobodan Ilić was killed, and O1 says that between 11 and 12 o'clock in the morning he was in the center of the village, not far from the Orthodox cemetery, in front of the houses where the liquidation of Ilić occurred.

We remind you that all earlier testimonies of witnesses of the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina indicate that the Army of Republika Srpska held that position until 4 o'clock in the afternoon. O1's story also does not align with other testimonies regarding the armored vehicle, which he claims ended up "in the bushes" and that members of the Army of Republika Srpska were captured, but everyone else states that the armored vehicle went towards Sase and was never stopped nor was anyone captured from it. 

O1 stated many facts differently in the first-instance proceedings, so he said that the dead in Zalazje were put on a truck and that he doesn't know what happened to them, while yesterday he said they were brought to Srebrenica, then an order came to return to Zalazje.

O1 claims that he also participated in the action in Lolići near Kravica in 1992, and that he heard that a policeman from Ljubovija, Milutin Milošević, whom he knew well before the war, was arrested. In the first-instance proceedings, he did not mention that they were family friends. 
Today, speaking again about this case, he emphasized that he does not know that he was a commander, and when asked how that is possible when he knew him very well from the war, O1 said "that Milošević was an officer of the Bratunac Police Station in 1992, but that he was honorable, so he surely advanced."

Now, testifying, he introduced a new fact that Orić ordered that Milošević's body be sprinkled with lime. O1 said that Orić was irritated and hit him with his hands, feet, whatever he could. 

He shot him with an automatic rifle, O1 claims he ran over immediately, but later answering questions from attorney Sabina Mehić, he said that five minutes had passed.

O1 spoke about how Sabahudin Muhić, alias Mrčo, also shot Milošević immediately after Orić. Finally, he introduced a third story, that Mrčo returned and shot Milošević's body again.

- That's the third version - stated Mehić.

The attorney for Sabahudin Muhić asked the witness how he referred to Mrčo in his 2014 statements.

- I don't remember - said the witness.

"You said Senad Salihović Mrčo. How did you refer to Mrčo in 2015?" asked Mehić.

- I don't remember - repeated the witness.

- You said Senad Salihović Mrčo again. Do you remember how you referred to Mrčo in 2015 at the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina East Sarajevo - asked Mehić.

- I don't know, do I need to draw - replied witness O1.

The continuation of the trial is scheduled for October 8, when the Prosecutor's Office and the defense will present material evidence.