Sinisa Maksimovic, defence witness of Radovan Karadzic

Today, Radovan Karadzic tendered into evidence Sinisa Maksimovic’s written statement; as usual, he dealt with it swiftly and without additional questions. During the war, Maksimovic commanded a VRS company in Mrkovici; the unit held positions on the notorious Spicasta Stijena, also known as Sharpstone.

As alleged in the indictment against Karadzic, snipers often fired from Sharpstone on civilians in Sarajevo. The annex to the indictment mentions two incidents: a nine-year-old girl was injured on 17 April 1993 and 14-year old Tarik Zunic was wounded on 6 March 1995.

Sinisa Maksimovic contends that while he was the commander, the soldiers from his company opened fire from Sharpstone only when it was necessary', i.e., to repel the enemy attacks. In such situations, they only fired on enemy positions.

In the cross-examination, prosecutor Carolyn Edgerton showed the witness a report drafted by UN military observers on 6 March 1995. The report speaks about the wounding of two civilians, one of whom was a 14-year old boy, and the Serb forces’ threats that they would fire on a UN armored vehicle if it didn't leave the area.

Although he spoke about the incident in his written statement, the witness refrained from making further comments as in March 1995, he no longer commanded the company stationed at Sharpstone.

The prosecutor then said that as regards another incident from April 1993, the defense showed the witness a photo taken 'approximately' at the location where the victim had been standing. The witness marked the Serb army positions on the photo. This time, the prosecutor showed the witness a second photo made at the 'actual' location where the sniper incident had occurred. Comparing the two photos, Maksimovic said that in fact he couldn't say anything about the position from which the sniper had supposedly fired. Judging by the photo the prosecutor showed him, the position was not in his company’s area of responsibility.

The photo shown to the witness by prosecutor Edgerton was a still from a film made by OTP investigator Barry Hogan for the trials of generals Stanislav Galic and Dragomir Milosevic. In his evidence in the Karadzic case, Hogan marked on the photos and maps of Sarajevo the locations of all 16 sniper incidents listed in the indictment against the former RS president.

After Sinisa Maksimovic completed his evidence, Karadzic’s legal representative Peter Robinson announced that his next witness, KW 341, refused to testify after he learned that the Trial Chamber decided not to grant protective measures. The defense case will resume on Tuesday, 30 October 2012 with the evidence of Stephen Jourdy.

Sharing