The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina acquitted Senad Gadžo, Zaim Laličić and Sulja Hebib of the charges of crimes against Serbian civilians in Hrasnica near Sarajevo in 1992 and 1994. An appeal is allowed against the pronounced verdict.
The court panel concluded that it was not proven beyond a reasonable doubt that three former members of the Fourth Brigade of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in their capacity as guards, participated in the beatings and murders of Serbian civilians imprisoned in the area of Hrasnica.
A large number of the 21 counts of the indictment, as stated by the Chairperson of the Judicial Council Mediha Pašić, are based on the read statements of the witness Mirko Vuković, while for some counts no evidence was presented or only one witness was heard.
“The essential and decisive parts of the testimony of this witness were not confirmed by any other witness or material evidence, so they cannot be a reliable basis for determining the criminal responsibility of the accused,” said Pašić about Vuković’s testimony.
She clarified that, in a case where the accusation is based on only one witness, his testimony must be such that it leaves no doubt. She stated that Vuković’s statements were contradictory among themselves as well as in relation to other testimonies. She made some other points that are based on just one statement read.
The panel did not find proven the counts of the indictment for which the witnesses were heard due to the contradictions in their statements. Pašić noted that one of the witnesses stated that he was guided by the statements of other witnesses that he had read in the book.
She also referred to the shortcomings of the indictment in certain points.
“The prosecutor’s office did not specify the exact action it charges the defendants with, nor the form of responsibility,” Pašić said.
By the first-instance verdict, Gadžo was acquitted on 11 counts of indictment for participating in the beating of prisoners at the “Aleksa Šantić” school, garages and the basement of an unfinished building, most of whom succumbed to the beatings.
He and Laličić were acquitted of five counts for the death of one and causing mental and physical pain to six detainees. Hebib was acquitted on five charges of participating in the beating of four prisoners, Detektor reports.
Photo: BIRN
