Kovačević Trial: Neuropsychiatrist Testifies That Raped Witness Was Tense

In the continuation of the trial of Petar Kovačević, accused of crimes committed in the Višegrad area, a witness for the BiH Prosecutor's Office said that witness S1 told her she was physically abused in Višegrad.

Neuropsychiatrist Mersa Hadisalihović said that she met protected witness S1 at the Otoka Health Center in Sarajevo, and that on that occasion she seemed “tense and agitated,” BIRN reported, as carried by the news agency Patria.

“I remember the conversation with her; she is a person who had psychological problems. She seemed very tense and agitated, she had anxiety and could not sit still,” said Hadžisalihović.

She added that S1 had previously been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and hypertension.

Asked by prosecutor Dževad Muratbegović what the witness told her, Hadžisalihović replied that she told her she had been detained in a camp in Višegrad and that she had been subjected to “undignified psychological and physical abuse.”

“What I did not write in my report is the name of the person who raped her,” she added.

Witness S1 gave her testimony in October last year, but the public was excluded from the trial.

Kovačević is charged with, as a member of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS), participating in murders, rapes and unlawful arrests of civilians in Višegrad in late May 1992.

The next hearing is scheduled for August 24, when the BiH Prosecutor's Office will present its closing argument.