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Humanitarian Law Centerlic of Serbia. This statement has been corroborated by the contents of theletter of the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Serbia dated 17 May2005. In view of the fact that no record was made at the time members ofthe Scorpion units were issued arms, it is clear that it was not possible toidentify the rifles used to shoot the civilians, nor to identify the rifles in possessionof the members of the Scorpion unit, nor compare those rifles withthe cartridge cases found on the crime scene. The court accepted this partof the statement of witness Sran Manojlović as it was corroborated by thestatements of other witnesses, including the defendant himself, who saidthat there was no record of the factory numbers of the rifles issued to particularmembers of the unit. Witness Sran Manojlović, in his words, wasnot in possession of any other information; in view of the fact that he, too,is a member of the same unit, which makes it obvious that he, too, did notwant to mention other details, for the same reasons other members of thisunit, heard as witnesses, refused to say.At the time of the sanctioning of defendant Saša Cvjetan, the court had inmind the law in force at the time the crime was committed and whose provisionsprescribe a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment for a warcrime. Deciding in favour of this sentence the court had in mind the circumstancesand the manner of committing the crime as well as the exceptionalseriousness of the consequences.The court took into consideration the findings and the opinion of the committeeof expert witnesses headed by Dr. Branko Mandić, a psychiatrist,who presented the opinion of the committee of expert witnesses, that theability of the defendant to comprehend the importance of an action andthe possibility of controlling his behaviour at the time of the crime was committedwere decreased, but not significantly. In the opinion of the expertwitnesses, the defendant presents himself as a stable personality whose intellectualcapabilities are at the upper limit of the average. Emotionally, heis characterised by impulsive behaviour and rigidity. However, as an integratedpersonality, he is capable of controlling these characteristics. His basicdefence mechanisms are rationalisation, increased activity and sublimation.His participation in war activities has not left any consequences in hispsychological makeup in the sense of existence of post-traumatic stress impairment.The defendant pays attention to, first of all, the sense of responsibility,respect of authority, obedience and discipline. This is, surely, the334

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