US Embassy Attacker 'Was Easy to Disable'

Testifying at the trial of Mevlid Jasarevic, charged with attacking the US embassy in Bosnia last year, Avdo Ibrica described how he disabled Jasarevic on October 28, 2011, after the latter had fired shots for about 50 minutes and wounded a policeman.

Ibrica on September 3 told the Bosnian Court that he tried to shoot Jasarevic twice but he missed the first time, adding Jasarevic was an easy target.

Another witness, Smail Zilic, who recorded the whole event with his camera, recalled the same events, saying that Jasarevic repeatedly said he did not intend to shoot “brother Muslims” but only “Americans” and “ the ones terrorizing Muslims”.

The next court session is scheduled for September 10 when Jasarevic's wife is expected to take the stand as a witness although she has been banned from Bosnia for five years and now lives in Serbia.

Custody for Jasarevic and two of his alleged helpers, Emrah Fojnica and Munib Ahmetspahic, charged by the State Court with organizing a terrorist group, was extended for another two months.

Since the main suspect complained to the court about his conditions in the Central Sarajevo Prison, he has been transferred to a detention unit within the State Court.
 
The Bosnian indictment charges Jasarevic with attacking the US embassy, shooting 105 bullets in 50 minutes from an auto rifle and wounding a policemen. Fojnica and Ahmetspahic are charged with assisting him.

Fojnica and Ahmetspahic allegedly hid the DVD message Jasarevic had recorded before coming to Sarajevo on October 28, and also allegedly destroyed ammunition and military equipment that had been obtained for terrorist purposes.

The defence admits the suspect's action but insists he was not part of an organized terrorist group. The prosecution maintains that Jasarevic, Ahmetspahic and Fojnica were all members of an organized terrorist group that was active in the village of Gornja Maoca in northeast Bosnia.

The indictment says the three men intended to express dissatisfaction with the position in Bosnia of the extreme Wahhabi community, to which they belonged, and avenge that by violence.

All three have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Jasarevic is also indicted by the US Justice Department. In April it charged him, among other matters, with attempted murder alongside nine other counts in connection with the shootings.