Request for Trial Suspension Until Investigation into VRS Commanders and Soldiers from Čemerno is Completed

SARAJEVO, (Patria)  - The trial in the Čemerno case continued today before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with Sekula Gavrić, a witness for the BiH Prosecutor's Office, testifying. Before the testimony itself, attorney Ifet Feraget requested that the Court of BiH suspend the main hearing, because the prosecutor Vladimir Simović himself stated last time that an investigation is being conducted against members of the VRS and commanders who served as crews on 122-millimeter howitzers at Čemerno, from which shells were fired that killed people in Breza, Sarajevo, and Visoko.

"The defense has the right to be in an equal position as the BiH Prosecutor's Office. The defense has acquired the right to its own investigation," Feraget said.

This attorney also requested a change in the order of presenting evidence and proposed that Vladimir Vidaković be heard.

Attorney Damir Alagić, in support of Feraget's request, warned the Trial Chamber that, for example, witness Dragislav Mijanović, who testified at the last hearing, is under investigation for war crimes! 
Presiding Judge Halil Lagumdžija requested these requests in writing from the defense, and the Court will rule on them subsequently.

Witness Gavrić spoke about the circumstances of his departure to Čemerno. He was a member of the VRS and arrived at Čemerno from Okruglica on June 9, 1992. With him were Vaso Zekić and Savo Cvjetić, and five more soldiers from Kunosići: Gojko Đurđić, Radomir Jeftić, Žarko Malešević, Milovan Malešević, and Neno Mičić.

"We came to Čemerno, to the house of Dragan Damjanović. There was a cemetery; I saw two howitzers. There we reported to Momir Šikuljak, who assigned us towards Mahmutović Rijeka and Orahovo. From there we expected an attack," Gavrić said.

He said there were more soldiers, and that Petar Rašević was cooking in the kitchen and that he had dinner there. He also said they built a shelter, and when shown a photograph, he said it was possible that it was the shelter he, Zekić, and Cvjetić had built.

"In the evening around 10 p.m., Momir Šikuljak came and said we were going below the house of Milan Damjanović. The attack started exactly at 5:35; I had a watch. The attack came from the direction of Čemernica. We had to retreat, then we came back to the shelter where we were initially. There, Petar Rašević joined us and showed us the way to Karaula. While we were coming to the shelter, Savo Cvjetić got lost. He didn't go with us to Karaula, but when we arrived there, he was already there. He had arrived at Karaula before us," Gavrić recounted. 

This witness said that a loud gunshot was heard, and that he also heard an order to burn everything and leave nothing alive. He told the defense that the attack started far from him, about 2 kilometers away, but he could not explain how he could hear such orders at that distance.

From Karaula, he returned with other soldiers who came in two trucks back to Čemerno, where, as he says, he went down alone below the house of Dragan Damjanović and saw the dead bodies of Milovan Malešević and Radomir Jeftić. He also mentioned hearing about dead soldiers in a stable who were burned, and he said it was possible they were the howitzer crew.

Given that Gavrić also stated that "he never saw sheet metal from a house fly into the air and explode," in response to the defense's question whether it was possible that it was ammunition stored in the house, Gavrić said it was possible, because if there were howitzers, there must have been ammunition.

Only today at the trial was it revealed that Gavrić had also given a statement on these circumstances in Srebrenica, not just in Bratunac in 2015. 

Incidentally, from the record of the interview, Gavrić could not confirm many things, and he said that the record he signed was not read to him. He could not even confirm that someone had typed his statement, saying he "would give his head that his statement was handwritten."

The BiH Prosecutor's Office charges former members of the Territorial Defense (TO) and active and reserve police personnel – Džemal Hadžić, Teufik Turudić, Džemal Smola, Senad, Haris and Benjamin Sikira, Enes Durak, Mirsad, Nusret and Mirzet Bešlija, and Hamdija Spahić and Nehru Ganić – with participating in a joint criminal enterprise in the village of Čemerno in June 1992.

The continuation of the trial is scheduled for September 19.