Suspicious findings of a neuropsychiatrist: Is Ibran Mustafić a credible witness?

The trial of Naser Orić and Sabahudin Muhić before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina continued today with the presentation of a new witness for the BiH Prosecution, reports the Patria News Agency.

Dr. Vesna Ivanović testified. She was the director of the Bratunac Health Center in 1993. In her testimony, she confirmed that Mitar Savić had been listed as missing since December 14, 1992, and that on February 16, 1993, he was brought to the Bratunac Health Center along with the bodies of three other murdered individuals.

- I went down to the morgue to look at the bodies for identification, because Savić's wife did not dare to go down, and I knew him and wanted to check if he was among the murdered - Ivanović said.

Naser Orić's lawyer, Lejla Čović, presented a protocol from the Bratunac Health Center, certified by the Hague Tribunal, which states that Savić was killed in the Kunjerac area on December 14, 1992, and that his body arrived at the Health Center on February 16, 1993.

- Yes, that is our protocol - Ivanović confirmed.

The second witness for the Prosecution today was supposed to be Avdo Suljić from Srebrenica, who, according to Prosecutor Miroslav Janjić, is missing, and they could not obtain information about his whereabouts even from the police.

However, everyone in the courtroom was surprised by this story, as it is known that Suljić sent a letter to several Srebrenica associations claiming that due to pressure from certain individuals to testify in the proceedings against Naser Orić, the wartime commander of Srebrenica, he was forced to leave BiH.

Suljić's Letter: Prosecution does not know the witness's whereabouts

I never reported to testify on any side in the proceedings against Naser Orić... As a member of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992, I was on the front lines as a guard. I did not participate in any actions, i.e., attacks on Serb villages or their army. At ten years old, I was not ready for that, as I did not serve in the former JNA. My first encounter with Serbian soldiers was in July 1995, during the breakthrough from Srebrenica to Tuzla. There was a lot of pressure and threats from the Prosecution through Ibran Mustafić. I refused, which is why I went to Germany and sought asylum - Suljić states in the letter.

The next hearing in this case will be held on September 20, 2016. The prosecutor proposed Ibran Mustafić, for whom, according to the Prosecution's claims, a three-member team of neuropsychiatrists, led by Dr. Zorica Lazarević, director of the Neuropsychiatric Clinic in Sokolac, assessed that Ibran Mustafić from Srebrenica, a witness for the BiH Prosecution in the case against Naser Orić before the Court of BiH, is mentally stable and capable of testifying.

At that time, Čović requested that the document be provided to her and that the doctors who performed the assessment be heard first. It was also proposed to hear the doctors who determined that Mustafić had 100 percent disability, based on which he also receives a pension.

The Court also requested that the doctors give their statements first, and Mustafić later.

We remind you that on June 28, Ibran Mustafić was supposed to testify, but a scandal of sorts occurred in the courtroom, and Mustafić was removed from the courtroom due to inappropriate behavior, by the decision of the Trial Chamber presided over by judge Šaban Maksumić.

Even before the witness arrived at the courtroom, the defense had warned that they had documentation that witness Mustafić was a 100% disabled person with a diagnosis of a permanently disturbed personality. However, the Prosecution now claims the opposite. The question arises as to who made a mistake in their medical history and how it is possible that Mustafić has been receiving a pension for all these years based on this decision.

Will this mean, if it is determined that he is capable of legal proceedings, criminal charges against those who diagnosed him with a permanently disturbed personality, and will Mustafić have to return the money from the pensions he received, which are not small or negligible amounts?