Nikacevic: Capture of Rasim Klapuh
26 August 2008 The Trial Chamber completes the examination of the indictee and the Defence examines another witness.
On the second day of his testimony indictee
Miodrag Nikacevic, who appeared as a Defence witness, told the Trial Chamber that
the police forces did not have any power in Foca, adding that he did not know
what had happened to Rasim Klapuh, after he had taken him to the Foca
Correctional Facility for an informative conversation.
The
indictment alleges that, on August 2, 1992 Nikacevic took Rasim Klapuh to the
Foca Facility, where he was detained and killed later on.
"I did not know what happened to Klapuh afterwards. I was not
authorised to enter the Facility, but I would like to know what happened to him.
I could not do anything about it. The police forces did not have any power. We
were so small. The military did not like us helping people, so they attacked
us," Nikacevic said, adding that he did not receive any document confirming that
he handed Klapuh over to the Facility staff.
The examination of the
indictee, as the first Defence witness, began at the hearing held on
August,
19, when he denied all allegations
contained in the indictment, which charges him, among other things, with the rape of
two women in Foca in 1992.
Witness Zdravko Matovic, a former policeman
from Foca, who was examined by the Defence at the hearing today, said that he
did not remember "Rasim Klapuh's case", because he was a duty officer at the
police station on that day.
"I remember that Nikacevic and some other
policemen were tasked with apprehending Klapuh to the Foca Facility. They had
handheld transceivers, which enabled them to communicate with the staff in the
station. When Nikacevic informed us that they had found him, he was ordered to
hand him over to the military police in Velecevo. Nikacevic had to execute the
order," Matovic said, adding that the order was issued by "the police station
chief" and he then conveyed it to the indictee.
In the course of his
testimony Matovic said that Nikacevic "helped Bosniaks", adding that he "was
always a good man, who wanted to help everyone".
Answering the
Prosecutor's questions, during the course of cross-examination, the witness said
that Nikacevic was obliged to obtain a receipt, confirming that he apprehended
Rasim Klapuh, as this "was a usual practice".
At this hearing the Trial
Chamber asked the Defence to specify how many witnesses would testify and to
which circumstances their testimonies would refer. At the status conference, the
Defence attorneys announced that they wanted to examine 28 witnesses. At this
hearing they said that the list was now reduced to 17 witnesses. As indicated by
attorney Izet Bazdarevic the witnesses are expected to speak about "the
indictee's behaviour during the course of the war".
"In those turbulent
times, when a human life was very cheap, Miodrag Nikacevic, as a Serb,
sacrificed himself in order to save Bosniaks. By examining these witnesses, we
want to explicitly show that he helped people, in his capacity as professional
policeman," Bazdarevic said.
The Trial Chamber approved the examination
of four witnesses. Two of them are due to appear at the next hearing, scheduled
for September 2.
Justice Report is a
specialist reporting agency focusing on war crimes trials taking place before
local courts; development of the local legal system; and efforts to come to
terms with the past.
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The opinions expressed in Balkan Insight are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network
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