VikiĆ and others: State Security officers had no knowledge of murders

(Patria) - At the trial for the crime committed in Veliki Park in Sarajevo, the BiH Prosecutor's Office read the statements of deceased witnesses, former employees of the State Security Service (SDB).

Witness Zlatan Ramić stated that in 1992 he was an inspector in the SDB, and after the war he worked in intelligence agencies, where he eventually became head of the war crimes department.

In his statement in 2015, he said that he had no knowledge of the crime in Veliki Park and could not recall an official note regarding the event. He also testified about certain individuals from the service.

When asked under what circumstances this witness was heard, prosecutor Vesna Ilić said that witnesses who will speak about that official note will be called later.

In this case, Dragan Vikić, Jusuf Pušina, Nermin Uzunović, and Mladen Čovčić are accused. They are charged with the murders of eight captured soldiers committed in Veliki Park in April 1992.

Vikić, as the commander of the Special Unit and commander of the Reserve Unit, is accused of failing to prevent or take measures to punish his subordinates, as is Pušina, who was the Assistant Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (RBiH). Uzunović and Čovčić are accused as members of the Reserve Police Unit.

The prosecution also read the statement of Edhem Omeragić, who was in charge of managing an operational group in the SDB after the war began. In 2005, this witness told the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office in Sarajevo that he heard from a colleague about the murder of soldiers in Veliki Park. According to Omeragić, a representative of the SDB and the police was supposed to attend the investigation to determine whose jurisdiction the investigation fell under.

The witness also stated that he knew Nedžad Herenda was a member of the "Ševe" unit and that when a task needed to be done, he was "the first to go".

Vikić's defense attorney, Adna Dobojlić, said that if the witness were alive, she would ask him if it was true that Asim Dautbašić from the SDB was sitting in the Police House near Veliki Park and that he was obliged to inform the police about the murder, BIRN reported.

The defense would also ask the witness if it was true that Vikić was not Herenda's superior, who was "chosen to liquidate", and that his superior was Nedžad Ugljen.

The trial will continue on October 17.