The defence team for the top Bosnian army general Sefer Halilovic finished their case this week after bringing only three witnesses, who testified over seven working days.
Halilovic’s lawyer announced last month a very short defence case, but eventually its length seemed to take even the lawyers by surprise – instead of the planned seven witnesses, the court heard only three, bringing the case to an unexpectedly quick end.
But Halilovic’s lawyers are confident they were enough to prove that their client didn’t have “effective control” over the units that committed crimes listed in the indictment.
Sefer Halilovic, who was chief of staff of the Bosnian army at that time related to the indictment, has been charged with a single count of violations of the laws or customs of war in connection with the murders of 62 Bosnian Croats in the villages of Grabovica and Uzdol in September 93. The crimes occurred during a military operation dubbed “Neretva 93”, which aimed to lift the siege of the city of Mostar.
He is charged on the basis of command responsibility of failing to both prevent the crimes committed by units allegedly subordinated to him and punish the perpetrators afterwards.
In his June 27 opening speech, Halilovic’s lawyer Peter Morrissey indicated that the defence would try to prove that their client was never in de facto command of the Neretva 93 operation. Since the beginning of the trial at the end of January this year, the defence has claimed that Halilovic only had the right “to issue certain orders” when authorised by his superior, Bosnian army commander in chief general Rasim Delic.
During the time allotted to them – which was about four months – the prosecutors brought 38 witnesses to The Hague, with another two providing written statements in order to prove Halilovic’s responsibility for the crimes in Grabovica and Uzdol.
All three defence witnesses focused on the massacre in Uzdol, because, according to the defence, that’s where the prosecution case was the weakest.
One of the defence witnesses, who testified last week under protective measures, said 29 Croat civilians from Uzdol were not killed by Bosnian army soldiers in cold blood – as the prosecutors claim – but in self-defence.
Another witness, Mehmed Behlo, who was a middle-ranking Bosnian army officer during the war, said in his original 2001 statement given to the tribunal’s investigators that “it was clear to me Halilovic was in charge [of operation Neretva 93], because everyone reported to him”.
But when he appeared in court last month, Behlo denied he ever said that to the investigators.
Both parties should present their closing arguments on August 25.
Merdijana Sadovic is an IWPR reporter in The Hague.
