The defense, set to begin its case in October, considers that the prosecutor has failed to prove the guilt of the former commanders in the BH Army 3rd Corps, and calls for the trial to be ended


The defense of General Enver Hadzihasanovic and Brigadier Amir Kubura considers that on the basis of the evidence presented by the prosecutor, "no reasonable trier of fact would conclude that the accused were guilty 'beyond reasonable doubt'" for the crimes they were charged with. The defense motions state that the accused should be acquitted on all counts of the indictment and that the trial should be ended before the start of the defense case, scheduled for 5 October.

The prosecutors deem that the Chamber should not grant the defense motions for acquittal; in their view, the charges in the indictment have been proven.

In the course of the prosecution case, which lasted for seven months, between December 2003 and July 2004, evidence was presented on the capture of Croatian villages and destruction of houses in Central Bosnia in 1993, detention and abuse of Croats and Serbs and murders of detainees; the most heinous murders were committed by the mujahedin. The defense was trying to prove that Hadzihasanovic and Kubura, the then commanders of the 3rd Corps and 7th Muslim Brigade respectively, had control over the troops that had committed those crimes. Although they are not charged with ordering the crimes, the prosecutor was trying to prove that they bear command responsibility having failed to prevent and punish the crimes. The defense, for its part, tried to prove that the accused often had no control over the perpetrators of the crimes and that they had taken measures to prevent and punish the crimes whenever that had been feasible.

The Trial Chamber is expected to render its decision this month, before the scheduled start of the defense case.

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