Šešelj: Prosecution leading witness

Vojislav Šešelj has told the Hague that witness VS-1035 tied the Radicals with the 1992 murders of Muslims in Bijeljina at the prosecution’s bidding.

Izvor: Beta

Thursday, 29.01.2009.

16:33

Default images

Vojislav Seselj has told the Hague that witness VS-1035 tied the Radicals with the 1992 murders of Muslims in Bijeljina at the prosecution’s bidding. The witness and prosecutors, however, rejected Seselj’s claim. Seselj: Prosecution leading witness The Serb Radical Party (SRS) leader is charged with crimes against Croats and Muslims in Croatia, Vovodina and Bosnia-Hercegovina from 1992 to 1993. The Trial Chamber ordered earlier that allegations about crimes in Bijeljina should be struck from the charges, though prosecutors are still allowed to enter evidence about them which illustrates the “behavior patterns” of SRS volunteers. Seselj claimed that the witness had never once before, either in his earlier statements or during Slobodan Milosevic’s trial, mentioned the presence of Mirko Blagojevic’s unit, “a members of the SRS and one of ‘Seselj’s boys’,” in Biljelina or being involved in the murder of Muslims, as he claimed during his examination-in-chief. VS-1035, however, responded that he had mentioned Blagojevic in all of his conversations with Hague prosecutors, adding that he did not know why it had not been noted in his written statements. He repeated the same answer when Seselj claimed that the witness had never mentioned that three Muslims, a father and two sons, had reportedly been killed at the end of March 1992 in Bijeljina by “Brano Sumar from Mirko Blagojevic’s unit.” “I found that out from the wife and mother of the dead man, and that’s what I said,” VS-1035 insisted. Dismissing Seselj’s claim, Prosecutor Ulrich Muessemeyer later quoted the witness’s words from the transcript of the Milosevic trial, when he said: “Sumar from the White Eagles took three people away and killed them.” “And why is Sumar, whose real name is Branislav Filipovic, now being ascribed to the SRS?” asked Seselj, adding that he did not deny that Bijeljina Muslims had been killed, but that that was later, when the city was under the control of Ljubisa Savic’s paramilitary unit. The accused claimed that Blagojevic and his unit, which was part of the local Territorial Defense, strongly opposed Savic’s unit that had been “persecuting Muslims.” The trial will continue next Tuesday with witness statements about events in Bosanski Samac in 1992.

Šešelj: Prosecution leading witness

The Serb Radical Party (SRS) leader is charged with crimes against Croats and Muslims in Croatia, Vovodina and Bosnia-Hercegovina from 1992 to 1993. The Trial Chamber ordered earlier that allegations about crimes in Bijeljina should be struck from the charges, though prosecutors are still allowed to enter evidence about them which illustrates the “behavior patterns” of SRS volunteers.

Šešelj claimed that the witness had never once before, either in his earlier statements or during Slobodan Milošević’s trial, mentioned the presence of Mirko Blagojević’s unit, “a members of the SRS and one of ‘Šešelj’s boys’,” in Biljelina or being involved in the murder of Muslims, as he claimed during his examination-in-chief.

VS-1035, however, responded that he had mentioned Blagojević in all of his conversations with Hague prosecutors, adding that he did not know why it had not been noted in his written statements.

He repeated the same answer when Šešelj claimed that the witness had never mentioned that three Muslims, a father and two sons, had reportedly been killed at the end of March 1992 in Bijeljina by “Brano Šumar from Mirko Blagojević’s unit.”

“I found that out from the wife and mother of the dead man, and that’s what I said,” VS-1035 insisted.

Dismissing Šešelj’s claim, Prosecutor Ulrich Muessemeyer later quoted the witness’s words from the transcript of the Milošević trial, when he said: “Šumar from the White Eagles took three people away and killed them.”

“And why is Šumar, whose real name is Branislav Filipović, now being ascribed to the SRS?” asked Šešelj, adding that he did not deny that Bijeljina Muslims had been killed, but that that was later, when the city was under the control of Ljubiša Savić’s paramilitary unit.

The accused claimed that Blagojević and his unit, which was part of the local Territorial Defense, strongly opposed Savić’s unit that had been “persecuting Muslims.”

The trial will continue next Tuesday with witness statements about events in Bosanski Šamac in 1992.

Komentari 0

0 Komentari

Možda vas zanima

Podeli: