BiH Court Orders Prosecution to Submit All Evidence to Defense in Dudaković et al. Case

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, specifically the Trial Chamber presided over by judge Željka Marenić, today ordered the BiH Prosecution, specifically the acting prosecutor Vedrana Mijović, to submit all evidence to the defense as soon as possible in the case of Atif Dudaković and others.

"I stated in my objection to the indictment that the investigation in this case was not conducted in accordance with the law. When I say that, I mean that the Prosecution did not fulfill its legal obligation to establish facts that incriminate, but also those that benefit the accused.

Precisely because of this, and especially considering the fact that the defense has since come into possession of hundreds of documents-evidence that cast a completely different light on this military operation, which is depicted in a completely distorted way in the indictment, I raised the issue of conducting the investigation in a biased and illegal manner at that time.

On several occasions, I have approached the Prosecution with a request to be provided with certain other evidence, in addition to the evidence listed in the indictment, and based on that evidence, I indirectly learned that the Prosecution must have it in its possession or should have it, but I never received a response. In December last year, Fatmir Muratović and I spent a few hours at the Prosecution one day, we reviewed it, and I saw that it was not all the evidence.

This is now an additional problem, that the Prosecution has not disclosed all the evidence. Disclosing all the evidence means not only handing over to the defense the evidence that is in the indictment, but also the evidence that was used, and I would say, the evidence that should have been used.

Today we heard that the Prosecution did not know, or rather, does not possess a document called the Directive of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, dated January 5, 1995, which was issued at the beginning of each year and on the basis of which combat operation plans were later made.

However, the respected president of the Trial Chamber, Željka Marenić, interrupted the discussion of prosecutor Vedrana Mijović and clearly and loudly stated that the defense should be provided with absolutely all evidence very soon, as soon as possible. So I was right. This fight has paid off. We will finally get about 30 binders, and through new studies of this evidence, we will indirectly obtain data on what else the Prosecution has or should have in its possession, which will call into question this indictment and the interpretation of an event that was a legitimate military action," lawyer Ifet Feraget told reporters.

Otherwise, at today's hearing, the retired general and Chief of Staff of the General Staff of the ARBiH, Enver Hadžihasanović, was cross-examined. Among other things, he was presented with the Directive of the Army of the RBiH, which states that each Corps should carry out one military operation to liberate occupied territory within its zone of responsibility.

For such an operation to be realized, the plan had to be approved by the Chief of the General Staff of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
He confirmed to the defense that military operations are usually planned by the General Staff, and that it is possible that the Sana 95' military operation was planned at the level of the Presidency of the RBiH, HV, and HVO. He said that he did not know when the Sana 95' operation would specifically take place, but he confirmed that Rasim Delić told him to help commander Atif Dudaković with whatever he asked for, and that Dudaković had requested personnel assistance.

"If he hadn't approved that operation, he wouldn't have told me that," said Hadžihasanović.

He was again shown the extraordinary combat report from September 15, 1995, which states that there were many killed soldiers, but Hadžihasanović explained that this is military terminology and that these were soldiers who died in combat.

In the additional examination, prosecutor Marijana Čobović attempted to ask the witness questions about captured soldiers, which were not in the report. The defense lawyers objected to this, and the Court accepted the objection without the lawyers' explanations and rejected Čobović's claims.

Also, during the cross-examination, the witness testified about another part of the report which states "it is requested that the Ministry of Internal Affairs be more engaged in controlling the newly acquired territory to prevent looting and maintain order.".

That newly acquired territory was actually temporarily occupied territory that the Directive planned to liberate.

"The Ministry of Internal Affairs is not subordinate to the command of the Army of the RBiH," said Hadžihasanović, answering Feraget's questions.

The witness specified that orders are given orally, in writing, and via communication channels.

"If an order issued via communication channels is not confirmed in writing, it is as if it never existed," said Hadžihasanović.

The continuation of the trial is scheduled for March 30.

The BiH Prosecution suspects Dudaković, along with Ekrem Dedić, Ibrahim Šiljdedić, Safet Salihagić, Adis Zjakić, Redžep Zlojić, Samir Solaković, Fatmir Muratović, Muharem Alešević, Husein Balagić, Ejub Koženjić, Ibrahim Nadarević, and Said Mujić, of crimes against humanity committed in the area of Bosanska Krajina.