ZADAR, Sept 26 (Hina) - Zorana Banic, accused of war crimes, presented her defence on Thursday before the panel of judges at Zadar County Court, after which Judge Enka Mokovic concluded that the presentation of evidence in that
re-trial was completed.
ZADAR, Sept 26 (Hina) - Zorana Banic, accused of war crimes,
presented her defence on Thursday before the panel of judges at
Zadar County Court, after which Judge Enka Mokovic concluded that
the presentation of evidence in that re-trial was completed. #L#
According to the new Law on Criminal Proceedings, Zorana Banic,
accused of war crimes against civilians in Skabrnja in 1991, was
allowed to once again give her defence statement upon the
completion of evidence. At the beginning of the trial, Banic had
said that she would stand mute.
Banic, a Serb national, rejected counts of the indictment relating
to the murder of 34 civilians, stating that she had not been in
Skabrnja on November 18 nor 19, 1991, or on any date after July the
same year. No-one ever saw me express any hate towards anyone
because I do not separate people according to the colour of their
skin or religion, but as good and bad, Banic said.
In continuation of her defence, Banic stated that on November 18,
when the crimes were committed by Serbs against Skarbrnja
civilians, she was in her home village, Zemunik Gornji, in the
basement of her neighbour's hours together with other neighbours.
"Never in my life have I put on a camouflage uniform," Banic said.
She admitted, however, that she had been mobilised, but only in
December 1991, and then only as a nurse at the Smilcic health clinic
near Benkovac.
The court allowed witnesses to confront the defendant. One witness,
Miroslav Juric, said that he saw the accused on November 18, 1991 in
Skabrnja in the afternoon hours and that she had been armed. Banic
said that in his place, she would not have lied as he had.
She said that rumours about her alleged role in Skabrnja had come
from young boys from Skabrnja who had suffered disturbances in the
motor skills and other psychological disturbances, whom as a nurse,
she recommended to psychologists in Zadar.
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