(Srebrenica, Zvornik, Bratunac, Milici, Gorazde, Visegrad,
Foca, Skelani, Vlasenica, Bijeljina, Milici)
Coordinators of project: Mr.
Milosh Zorica & Mr. Darko Trifunovic
Editor & translator: Ms. Jill Starr
Art director: Mr. Milosh Zorica
Publisher: LPC Yugoslavia
© 2001 LPC Yugoslavia
Kamenica near Zvornik – “Glodjansko brdo”. Exhumation of
the bodies of 120 Serbs taken prisoner and killed by the Moslems in December
1992. The families were able to come to recognized and collect the mutilated
bodies of their family members.
Vlasenica, 30th September 1992.Funeral with religious rites,
state and military honours for the massacred Serbs.
-B R A T U N A C -
October 1991. Political platform of the Moslem Nationality Council – Instruction
-What will happen to Serbs in the Islamic Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina-
The day is nearing when the announced Islamic Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
will be proclaimed. The date, which every Moslem in Bosniao-Herzegovina and
Sandzak is ardently waiting for has been known for a long time to be the 31st
Decembar. There are some indications that the Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina
might oppose this historic event. In this connection, certain measures have
been taken which will be applied if the Serb population of Bosnia and Herzegovina
does not agree to this idea.
Every individual Serb must be
aware of the responsibility of the entire nation for his uncontrolled actions;
the penalty for crimes committed will be collective – for one demolished Moslem
house, ten Serb houses will be demolished – for one dead Moslem, one hundred
Serbs will be liquidated – for one wounded Moslem (depend on the severity of
the wound) 10-50 Serbs will be executed.
All Serbs will have a 12-houre
working day. This wages will be proportionate to the loyalty of all the employees
and as a rule they will be paid 30% less than the wages of Moslems who occupy
the same post.
Serbs will have priority in the
dismissal of redundant workers.
Serbs cannot enter public institutions
without special passes.
Serbs will receive rations for
food, which they will obtain in special shops.
Serbs do not have national
parties and if they do not abide by the rules of political life, they will not
be entitled to political organization or to vote.
In the Islamic Republic, the right
of Serbs to produce alcohol will not be withdrawn, but Moslems are entitled
to apply the Sheriat to all inhabitants of the state.
Serbs are equal to Moslems if,
of their own will, they are received into the Islamic faith of their forefathers.
No one has the right to refer to their previous life because they are not quilty
for being Serbs. No generation is accountable for the actions of the previous
one, or some other that preceded it.
A good Serb is a living and obedient
Serb or a dead, disobedient Serb.
Testimonies:
Designation of crime: Genocide (Article 4. of ICTY Statute)
PLACE AND TIME: Rupovo brdo
(hill) near Milici, May 27, 1995.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION: Members
of the Muslim army of the so-called Bosnia-Herzegovina from the protected zone
of Srebrenica have entered the area of the Republic of Srpska where on May 27th
they have made an ambush on the macadam road Rupovo brdo-Kupusna.
When around 17:45 hours a
truck vehicle type "Mercedes" arrived in which there were five Serbs-civilians,
who were transporting wood for heating, they were killed on the spot, all the
five of them:
1. Golic Ljubisa, of father
Vojin, born in 1946
2. Petrovic Milisav, of father
Stanko, born in 1948
3. Nikolic Branko, of father
Drago, born in 1950
4. Savic Miladin, of father
Radiboje, born in 1957, and
5. Misic Milos, of father
Milos, born in 1961.
They were shot at point blanc
from a short range by fire arms, and the physicians of the Medical Center in
Milici found shot wounds from fire arms. On the body of Milic Milos there was
also a wound on the head inflicted by a blow with a blunt mechanical object,
and on the body of Savic Miladin there was a cut with a blade in the back, which
is pointing out at the fact that these two deceased were killed after previously
being injured.
INDICATIONS CONCERNING PERPETRATORS:
1. Oric Naser, Commander
of the 28th Division of the Army of the so-called Bosnia-Herzegovina in Srebrenica
2. Becirovic Ramiz, chief
of the headquarters
3. Bektic Hedzad, chief of
the security unit
4. Mandzic Smajo, Commander of the 1st Podravska Maneuvering Brigade.
Designation
of crime: Genocide (Article 4. of ICTY Statute)
PLACE AND TIME: Mali Zvornik
in the territory of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, May 10, 1995.
BRIEF DESCRIPTIOn: Members
of the Army of the so-called Bosnia-Herzegovina, on May 10, 1995 at some 13:10
hours fired a grenade from the territory of the so-called Bosnia-Herzegovina,
which had fallen on Zvornik - towards the center for training of drivers.
On this occasion the following
person had died:
Radic Dragisa, of father
Sreten, born in 1953. Injuries were caused to Vidic Dimitrije, of father Mitar,
born in 1922. The grenade was probably fired from a tank, from the region of
the village of Nezuh (Ravna Gora). At the same time the electrical supply network
was damaged in the length of 50 meters.
INDICATIONS ABOUT PERPETRATORS:
Members of the Army of the
so-called Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Designation
of crime: Genocide (Article 4. of ICTY Statute)
PLACE AND TIME: Village of
Setici, Municipality of Zvornik, October 8, 1992
BRIEF DESCRIPTION: Muslim
armed forces under the command of Hajrudin Hasanovic from Setici, attacked this
Serbian village and found in it only disabled or bed-ridden aged inhabitants,
whom they immediately killed. The following persons were killed:
1. Pantic Mihajlo, born in
1902 - killed with three bullets, one fired directly into his head, smashing
it completely.
2. Pantic Cvija, born in
1907 - killed from fire arms.
3. Pantic Desa, 65 years
old - killed from fire arms.
4. Pantic Sava, 72 years
old - killed from fire arms, also had wounds probably inflicted by a bayonet
in the neck and right tie.
5. Pantic Ljubica, daughter
of Cvija, born in 1946 - killed from fire arms.
6. Prelovac Cvija from Majevica,
over 60 years old - on her body there were traces of burns by fire.
7. Lukic Bosa, 65 years old
- killed from fire arms.
Bodies of these persons were
later found and buried at the cemetery in Karkaj, Municipality of Zvornik.
INDICATIONS CONCERNING PERPETRATORS:
1. Hasanovic Hajrudin, from
Setici, commander of the Muslim unit.
2. Sinanovic Ahmet, of father
Arif, from Setici.
Designation
of crime: Genocide (Article 4. of ICTY Statute)
PLACE AND TIME: Vitinice,
hamlet of Odzacina, Municipality of Zvornik, June 20, 1992.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION: Members
of the Muslim armed formations have attacked this village for the first time
on June 9, 1992. Then they burnt down two houses. During the second attack committed
on June 20, 1992 in the early morning, they killed close to their homes, the
following persons:
1. Tanackovic Vasa, from
the village of Vitinice
2. Kostic Kosta, from the
village of Vitinice, and
3. Kostic Cvijetko, from
the village of Vitinice.
From the ambush they killed
also the passengers who were trying to escape by car from the village:
4. Tanackovic Smilja, born
in 1944
5. Tanckovic Jovika, born
in 1955, and
6-7. two men from the village
of Pilice, one of them being previously wounded.
Muslim soldiers during this
attack plundered and burnt down the village.
INDICATIONS CONCERNING PERPETRATORS:
Muminovic Semso, from Kovacevic.
Designation
of crime: Genocide (Article 4. of ICTY Statute)
PLACE AND DATE: Village of
Bukvica, Municipality of Gorazde, May 25, 1992.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION; In this
village at some 25 kilometers distance from Gorazde, which belonged to the local
community of Ilovaca, there were 9 Serbian houses.
Muslims from the neighboring
villages in early May 1992 started making barricades, which caused anxiety among
Serbs. Therefore, all the younger inhabitants of the village escaped, and in
the village remained only the aged inhabitants.
The testifying witness, believing
his Muslim neighbors who were telling him that they have nothing to fear, remained
with his wife in the village.
The armed Muslims from the
neighboring villages on May 25, 1992, at some 16:00 hours, entered this village
and on that occasion killed everyone that they found in the village.
The following person were
killed:
1. Vukasinovic Grozda, of
father Vujadin, born in 1937
2. Vukasinovic Bozana, of
father Djordje, born in 1926
3. Vukasinovic Vukasin, of
father Pera, 87 years old
4. Vukasinovic Veljko, of
father Dimitrije, some 73 years old
and his wife
5. Vukasinovic Danica, of
father Boza, some 64 years old
6. Vukasinovic Milos, of
father Nedjo, some 66 years old, and his wife
7. Vukasinovic Jovanka, some
62 years old, and
8. Vukasinovic Milorad, of
father Todor, some 74 years old.
The witness succeeded in
escaping from the village which was then plundered by the Muslim soldiers and
burnt down.
INDICATIONS CONCERNING PERPETRATORS:
1. Son of Agamovic Sulejman
from the village of Krabarisa near Gorazde.
2. Odzic Murat, from the
village of Tresnjice near Gorazde.
Designation of crime: Crimes against humanity (Article 5. of ICTY Statute)
PLACE AND TIME: Visegrad,
August 1, 1991.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION: Through
the town of Visegrad two busses were scheduled to pass from Kraljevo, with the
pilgrims going to visit the Monastery of Ostrog in Montenegro, so that they
could spend there the holiday feast of Saint Ilija on August 2nd.
In Visegrad, Murat Sabanovic
with his group stopped the two busses with tourists and held them 7 to 8 hours.
During that time passengers were harassed and they thorn down and set on fire
the church flag that they were carrying with them.
In these busses were mostly
women and children. The whole day the busses were kept at the temperature of
some 35-36 degrees Celsius. Not only were they forbidding passengers from getting
out of the bus, but did not even allow them to have a drink of water. During
all this time they were insulting and harassing them. The luggage from the busses
was thrown out and scattered around. Only in the evening at some 19:00 or 20:00
hours did they let them return back to Serbia, preventing them from visiting
the Monastery.
INDICATIONS CONCERNING PERPETRATORS:
Sabanovic Murat, of father
Saban, born on January 7, 1953 in Orahovci, Municipality of Visegrad, was residing
in the village of Dusce near Visegrad.
Designation
of crime: Crimes against humanity
(Article 5. of ICTY Statute)
PLACE AND TIME: Visegrad,
end of November 1991.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION: After
having taken part in the war in Croatia, the witness appeared in the uniform
of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) in Visegrad where he was first met by a
Muslim Kuren Zahid, who took out a pistol and aimed it at the witness' head.
Then grabbing at his uniform, he said: "What do you need this for?"
The witness succeeded in freeing himself and entering the nearby coffee shop.
Soon after Murat Sabanovic
appeared together with Hurem Zahid and immediately asked: "Where is the
Chetnick?". Then the two of them, in front of all the guests in the coffee
shop, took out their pistols, came up to the witness and aimed the pistol at
his head. Sabanovic dragged him in the center of the coffee shop and ordered
him to kneel down. When the witness said: "Shoot, I am not going to kneel",
they started beating him: Sabanovic, Hurem and Ziga Damir. They were hitting
him on the head with pistols. He fell on the floor and fainted. He was covered
with blood. When he regained consciousness, Mubekir Tabakovic came to him, pressed
the pistol to his stomach, put the hand in the pocket of his shirt and took
all the money that the witness had on him (USD 30 and DEM 50).
Friends then took the witness
home, and then to the hospital where he was given first aid. The physicians
also sewed his wounds and placed 10 stitches.
The next day witness went
to the Secretariat of Interior Affairs of Visegrad to Commander Podzic, who
was interested in everything else but the reason for which the witness came
to press charges.
INDICATIONS CONCERNING PERPETRATORS:
1. Sabanovic Murat, of father
Saban, born on January 7, 1953 in Orahovci, was residing in the village of Dusce
near Visegrad.
2. Hurem Zahid
3. Ziga Damir
4. Tabakovic Mubekir,
of father Mustafa, born on March 4, 1970 in Visegrad.
Visegrad
Acts
of Violence and other forms of pressure against the Serbs
The Muslim Party of Democratic
Action (PDA) was founded in Visegrad on August 2, 1990. At the founding assembly
the Muslims stated that they were better prepared than they had been in 1941
and that they would not allow what had ostensibly happened to them in World
War II to happen to them again, as if they had been victimized, whereas in reality
many of them had been guilty of crimes committed within the framework of the
so‑called Independent State of Croatia. Alija Izetbegovic and Sulejman
Ugljanin visited Visegrad on that occasion and spoke at the Culture Centre.
At that meeting the idea was launched that funds should be raised to erect a
monument to Muslim victims fallen in World War II, as allegedly many had fallen
on Andric's bridge.
Fikret Cocalic was elected PDA president
for Visegrad and Avdija Sabanovic was elected his deputy. In November 1990 multiparty
elections were held and the Muslims won a majority in the municipal assembly.
Fikret Cocalic was elected president of the Assembly.
At its first session, the Assembly, thanks to the
Muslim majority, illegally changed the Statute of the Commune (failing to abide
by the prescribed procedure) by abolishing decision‑making by a two‑thirds
majority and introducing decision‑making by a simple majority on all issues
falling within the purview of the Assembly. This made it possible for the Serbs
to be outvoted in respect of all questions and for decisions to be adopted to
satisfy the interests of the Muslims. The mentioned Avdija Sabanovic behaved
particularly arrogantly in the Assembly. He leveled threats at the Serbs and
cursed at them while telling them that they should toe the line and behave as
they were told or else go to Serbia and there do whatever they felt like. The
Public Security Station headed by the Muslim Seval Murtic provided only meager,
vague information playing down the Muslim provocations of and assaults on Serbs,
which information was then adopted by the Assembly thanks to the Muslim majority
to the detriment of Serbs. When the Assembly discussed the interception of military
personnel carriers by the Muslims in September 1991, the Muslim deputies blamed
journalists from Serbia for writing about it. Snezana Neskovic, a deputy representing
the Serbs, came out against this view. When she said that it had not been journalists
that had intercepted the personnel carriers, she was verbally abused and attacked
by Avdija Sabanovic who told her to "take care" if anything at all
should happen to his brother Murat Sabanovic, "if a hair on his head was
harmed" (the ringleader of many aggressive actions undertaken by Muslims
in Visegrad). At the initiative of the Muslims the Assembly embarked on a debate
on the construction of a road to Zepa so that this area too could be connected
to Sanjak (the Rashka district in Serbia), i.e. with the "green transversal."
During the session of the Assembly, Murat Sabanovic stood armed at the door,
and later 15‑20 of his men, armed with no less than machine guns and automatic
rifles "secured" the Assembly building. This directly caused, in December
1991, the Serb deputies to leave the Assembly in which decisions were being
adopted contrary to their will anyway. In January 1992 the Serbs founded their
own Assembly so as to organize their life under conditions of threats on the
part of the Muslims.
Towards the end of 1990 the
Muslims' intolerance of the Serbs became ever more manifest, involving numerous
assaults, threats, provocations, maltreatment and physical attacks, and it escalated
until the war broke out. The Muslims publicly displayed their chauvinistic feelings
and accentuated their religious affiliation by wearing green clothes, brandishing
Muslim flags and other religious emblems. In Medvedja and in other places they
built new mosques, they established Muslim schools in villages and organized
religious instruction. An increasing number of Muslims started to wear fatigues
and caps with golden lilies on them.
Aggressive Muslim groups
increasingly used arms to intimidate Serbs or directly attack them. They went
on shooting rampages in the town of Visegrad in a show of force. Being in fear
for their lives, the Serbs went out in the streets seldom, especially women
and children.
Immediately prior to the outbreak of war Muslims
organized rallies for a sovereign Bosnia and Herzegovina. Motorcades of taxi
cabs and other cars with their horns blaring carried Muslim flags and had posters
affixed on them "for a sovereign Bosnia and Herzegovina".
The numerous attacks on Serbs shall be described
in more detail.
During the multiparty elections
the Muslims also demonstrated their chauvinism. Thus Murat Sabanovic with another
three Muslims wrote in green oil paint "PDA democracy" at the entrance
to the office building and on the doors in the corridors of the enterprise "Sumarstvo"
(Forestry) in Visegrad. There was a marked change in the behavior and style
of dress of the Muslim population who increasingly wore green. When in the spring
of 1991 Stanko Pecikoza, of Serb nationality, tried to persuade the Muslims
to let the passengers of a bus from Serbia get out, the Muslims set out to beat
him. Kasim Feric, a Muslim said: "Not a single Serb shall cross the Drina
river ever again, fuck their Serbian mothers!
On December 14, 1990, the
Muslims Ramo Kahriman and Senad Kahriman, without any reason or cause, physically
attacked the Serb Stanko Perunicic, the production manager of the enterprise
"Varda" in Visegrad, in his office. Ramo caught him by the head and
hit him while Senad pounded him from the back and they inflicted light bodily
injuries on him in the form of scratches and abrasions.
On January 21, 1991 in Visegrad,
in the catering establishment called "AB", Zahid Hurem, Kemal Hurem
and Jasmin Smajic physically attacked the Serb Sasa Radovanovic from Visegrad.
They hit him on the body with their hands and with bottles and kicked him with
their feet inflicting light bodily injuries.
On April 5, 1991, the Muslim
Kemal Sadikovic from Visegrad, in a drunken state, attempted to rape the minor
D.S. of Serb nationality in his car, whom he knew from before and who boarded
his automobile in the belief that she would come to no harm.
On
St. George's Day, May 6, 1991, Muslims erected barricades in a number of places
in Visegrad and manned various posts with guards. The witness Mladen Dragicevic
and several policemen went to inspect a number of spots to ascertain the situation,
but the Muslims would not let them enter Dusce, Dobrun and Bikavac. Such actions
on the part of the Muslims were organized by Avdija Sabanovic (deputy president
of the PDA in Visegrad and deputy to the Municipal Assembly) and his brother
Murat Sabanovic. In order to create an atmosphere laden with tension and provide
formal justification for their moves, the Muslims spread the falsehood that
Vojislav Seselj with about 200 members of his Party had set out from Serbia
towards Visegrad. The night between May 6 and May 7 was used to additionally
arm the Muslims.
The witness later found out
that this had been a trial mobilization of the Muslim Patriotic League ‑
the Green Berets ‑ a paramilitary organization.
In the spring of 1991, in
Visegrad, a group of Muslims pushed a drunken Muslim youth in front of Spaso
Djuric, a Serb, as the latter was driving a taxi, so that Djuric barely
avoided hitting the Muslim, and then they physically attacked him for ostensibly
threatening the life of a pedestrian ‑ a Muslim. The recognition of Bosnia
and Herzegovina by Turkey was a very festive occasion celebrated by the Muslims
of Visegrad. In that connection Spaso Djuric told a fellow taxi driver,
Bahro Velagic, that war was much more likely than the creation of a single state
of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to which the latter replied: "I am now glad
that I have got myself a Kalashnykov". The Muslims would often say that
they were the majority people and that the Serbs had no business being in Bosnia
and Herzegovina.
On
June 14, 1991 members of the PDA blocked the Public Security Station in Visegrad.
The assembled crowd of Muslims prevented the policemen from entering or leaving
the building. Murat Sabanovic and Zijad Subasic prevented the policeman Avdo
Smajlovic from standing guard in front of the entrance to the building. Grabbing
his automatic rifle, they forced their way into the building with a group of
Muslims. They demanded the immediate release of the Muslim Nermin Sisic who
had been detained for interrogation because he had cut sections of old bridges
and sold them at the junkyard.
In mid‑1991, in Dusce
near Visegrad, Muslims belonging to the group led by Murat Sabanovic intercepted
a bus operated by the "Raketa" transport service from Uzice and beat
up the driver and several passengers. They also threatened them with the weapons
they were holding. The driver was incapacitated for further work so that another
one had to be called from Uzice to take over.
The
Serbs in Visegrad and in the entire former Bosnia and Herzegovina were particularly
upset by the vandalistic demolition of the monument to the Serbian Nobel Prize
laureate writer Ivo Andric by the Muslims on July 1, 1991 around 5 p.m. at
Liberation Square in Visegrad. The monument was torn down by a group led by
Murat Sabanovic following instructions from the PDA (Murat Sabanovic is the
brother of Avdija Sabanovic, vice‑president of the Party of Democratic
Action for Visegrad). Sabanovic severed by a sledgehammer a part of the head
and a chunk of marble of the monument which he then threw into the Drina river.
He then pushed the rest of the monument down while the others were securing
the scene. Fadil Hajderbasic recorded the event with a movie camera and the
videocassettes were later sold. This action was preceded by vituperative and
insulting articles about Andric in the Islamic paper "Vox"
published in Sarajevo. The cover page of this paper showed a caricature of Andric
impaled on a pencil, an allusion to impalement on a stake, the typical Turkish
way of killing Serbs during Turkish rule, which Andric described in his
books. The text about Andric by Nihad Kresevljakovic was entitled "Ivo
Andric ‑ the Marquis de Sade of Our Literature" with a caption:
"What I have read, experienced and heard so far in Herceg‑Bosna will
suffice to call Andric, who perhaps is a great writer, a petty man, a
poisonous grain, a person who did not have even a modicum of love for his fatherland."
VOX-The herald of “The World
of perpetual darkness” Issue from October 1991.
The text quotes articles
from the paper "Bosanski pogledi" (Bosnian Views) from March 1961
stating that the books "The Bridge on the Drina" and the "Travnik
Chronicles" were written solely for political and chauvinistic reasons,
so as to attribute to the Muslims during Turkish times the crime of genocide
and brutality and at the same time justify the crimes of the Chetniks committed
on a massive scale against the Muslim population during the war.
Andric is ascribed
historical falsehoods about Bosnia and showered with the worst of abusive language.
("Can it really be that the beautiful, endearing and peaceful Bosnia engendered
such a blackguard?)". Before this incident professor Muhamed Filipovic
had stated that Ivo Andric had done more harm to the Muslims in Bosnia
than any army that had ever run through its territory.
In
the second half of July 1991 Avdija Sabanovic came to the office of the witness
in the enterprise "Sumarstvo" in Visegrad and first reprimanded him
for having said that he ‑ Avdija and his brother Murat Sabanovic had demolished
the monument to Ivo Andric in Visegrad and then added that the Muslims
accounted for 70% of the city's population and that he had better "keep
his mouth shut or else", and also that there was hajduk (brigand) blood
in his family. To the witness' comment that their behaviour towards the Serbs
was ustashi‑like, Sabanovic replied "I am an ustashi and proud of
it. I have killed and I will kill". He threatened the witness that he would
kill him and that there would be no one to see it, and that then he would defecate
on him. The next day Murat Sabanovic came to the office of the witness and also
threatened to kill him, saying that if he did not do it then and there that
he would certainly kill him within 5 or 6 days, that he would gun him down with
an automatic rifle, that he knew where his house was and that the witness was
as good as dead.
When the witness reported
this incident at the Public Security Station, the superintendent Murtic (a Muslim)
promised personal security to the witness but did not say that any action would
be taken against the attackers. The witness was also harassed by telephone so
that he had it disconnected for a while. He experienced all this as pressure,
which other Serbs were also subjected to, to move out of Visegrad.
On July 27, 1991, in the
village of Prelovo (where a memorial tomb of Serbs fallen in World War II is
located), Muslims provoked a fight during a local football match. On that occasion
they beat up the Serb Z.P.
On
the eve of St Elias' Day, on August 1, 1991, the group of Murat Sabanovic intercepted
in Visegrad two buses from Serbia with mainly women and children aboard, travelling
to Montenegro, to attend a religious ceremony in the Monastery of Ostrog. Under
the sweltering summer sun they kept the passengers inside the buses for seven
or eight hours. Around 2,000 Muslims gathered around them, many of whom maltreated
and showered abuse at the Serb passengers. They proclaimed the church flag the
passengers were carrying a Chetnik one and tore it to pieces. Only in the evening
did they let the passengers return to Serbia, not allowing them to proceed
to their destination.
In
August 1991 a leaflet was circulated among the Muslims in Visegrad stating:
"It is obvious that we can no longer live at peace with the Serbs and that
the crisis that we find ourselves in cannot be resolved as long as there is
a single Serb living in our Republic. We therefore have to do everything in
our power to get rid of them as soon and as efficiently as possible. Before
we resort to the last argument ‑ arms, we shall try to employ some subtler
methods..." Twenty points followed the statement with recommended action
for the Muslims. Inter alia: "Smash their car windows and the windows of
their houses"; "Throw garbage on their doorsteps"; "Urinate
in their entrance halls"; "Mark their houses or apartments";
"Write threatening graffiti on their houses or churches", and similar.
In their intimidation and
persecution of Serbs, the Muslims of Visegrad were particularly aggressive in
September 1991. On September 20, 1991, Murat Sabanovic and his brother Avdija
Sabanovic, leading a group of Muslims, erected barricades in the streets of
Visegrad and intercepted a column of military vehicles and personnel carriers
as well as other vehicles. Avdija Sabanovic intercepted a mixer truck, sent
the driver out and blocked the road with the vehicle. A large number of Muslims
assembled around the vehicle. They cursed at the soldiers and threatened them.
Ermin Velagic dragged one of the soldiers towards the assembled crowd
as Murat Sabanovic pulled at the soldier's automatic rifle trying to wrest it
away from him and when some policemen tried to stop him he cocked his pistol
and pointed it at them. Avdija Sabanovic stopped a bus with Cacak license plates,
transporting children, seized the keys from the driver and prevented him from
proceeding.
A vehicle in which was Z.S. was stopped in the
street. Murat Sabanovic grabbed S. by the hair and dragged him out of the vehicle
and then another Muslim hit him with an object in the back of the neck sending
him down on the ground, and then they kicked him in the loins. Sustained severe
bodily injury for which he was treated at the hospital in Uzice. Murat Sabanovic
and Senad Kahriman drove the Serb D.R. down the road at gun point, but two policemen
came to his rescue. Armed Muslims prevented the police from keeping law and
order. Murat Sabanovic and Senad Kahriman, forced, at gun point, the policemen
G.N. and H. K. to retreat towards the building of the Police Station. On September
20, 1991, in Visegrad, Avdija Sabanovic intercepted a freight vehicle of the
Public Utilities Enterprise in Visegrad driven by R.M. from Koritnik, cursing
at M. and calling him a "Chetnik". He opened the door and pounded
M. with his fists. Then Murat Sabanovic ran up to the vehicle and dragged M.
outside and then a number of Muslims beat him up. M. sustained injuries including
abrasions of the ear. Several days after this incident, waving a Serbian flag
on fire, Muslims went around shouting "that is how they would throw Chetniks
and Serbs into the Drina river". One of them brandished a broken bottle
neck shouting that that was his weapon with which to slaughter the "Chetniks".
On
September 23, 1991, in Dusce near Visegrad, Murat Sabanovic and another four
Muslims physically attacked the Serb M.]., who had protested against the erection
of barricades on the road, and inflicted severe bodily injury on him fracturing
his ninth left rib and causing contusions on various parts of his body. Sabanovic
hit ]. with the butt of his automatic rifle, sending ]. to the ground and then
the whole group fell upon him and pounded and kicked him. Not far from the scene
were a number of policemen and when one of them told the attackers "to
leave the man alone", Sabanovic cocked his automatic rifle and pointed
it at the policemen. According to the allegations of the Public Security Station
in Visegrad as well, Sabanovic had been carrying an automatic weapon during
the incident, but the police did not seize it from him, although the possession
and carrying of such weapons constituted a criminal offence according to the
then valid Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Article 213.) This detail
illustrates that the Muslims had already been armed at the time and that the
authorities accepted that fact as perfectly normal. In connection with the developments
from September 20 to 23, 1991, meetings were held in Visegrad on September 25,1991,
between the public prosecutor in Sarajevo and the prosecutor of the Public Prosecutor's
Office in Visegrad, the head of the Security Services Centre, the head of the
Public Security Station and the president of the Municipal Assembly of Gorazde.
The records from these meetings show that no criminal or misdemeanor action
had been brought against any of the perpetrators in relation to events that
had taken place shortly before and that the Public Security Station was awaiting
for a working group of the Ministry of Internal Affairs from Sarajevo to arrive
and extend it assistance. The head of the Public Security Station, Seval Murtic,
said that it had been assessed in respect of a number of incidents that no action
should be taken in order to prevent "the people from rallying".
The representative of the Executive Board of the
Serbian Democratic Party assessed that the judges dared not try Murat Sabanovic
and also that no one dared testify against him. The Executive Board of the SDP
demanded that Sabanovic be remanded in custody in connection with the demolition
of the monument of Ivo Andric, but to no avail. It was concluded at a
meeting held with the president of the Municipal Assembly, Cocalic, that it
was to be established whether conditions existed to remand in custody the persons
who had taken part in these events, especially those who had been convicted
before. It was also generally stated that there must be observance of the rule
of law. Neither Murat Sabanovic, nor anyone else belonging to his group were
ever detained in connection with the mentioned or any other acts of violence.
All this clearly shows that the authorities in Visegrad, the key offices of
which were held by Muslims, actually did not want to take any serious action
against the aggressive acts of the armed group of Murat Sabanovic, comprising
also his brother Avdija Sabanovic, the vice‑president of the PDA in Visegrad
and a deputy to the Municipal Assembly, namely that the acts of violence against
the Serbs were deliberate, in collusion with the authorities, designed to exert
pressure on the Serbs to force them to move out. It is only thus that the ostensible
dilemma to the effect of specific requirements having to be met for remanding
in custody persons persistently committing criminal acts of violence can be
explained.
The group of Murat Sabanovic
comprised about 50 well‑armed Muslims who received their salaries through
the PDA from moneys made by enterprises whose managers were Muslims. As for
food and other articles, they got this free of charge from the retail outlets
of the "Klas" enterprise. When D.G. found a member of Murat Sabanovic's
group taking a 50 kilogram sack of sugar from the "Klas" store without
paying, the shopkeeper told him that he would deduct the cost of the sugar from
the salary of the alleged customer. When G. asked to buy a sack of sugar himself,
the shopkeeper offered him only one kilogram.
A rapid paging and assembly
system had been organized for the members of Sabanovic's group via the city's
Muslim taxi drivers, and Zijo Lipa was in charge of liaison with the cab drivers.
Taxi drivers were very active in PDA actions. After they returned from a Muslim
event in Foca in 1991 to which they had been driving the participants,
Murat sabanovic sent all the drivers to the Municipal Hall to be given fuel.
Endangered
as they were, the Serbs from Visegrad fled en masse to Uzice, a neighbouring
town in Serbia. To put an end to this exodus, on September 24, 1991, the refugee
Serbian families from Visegrad which had found shelter in Uzice addressed in
writing the Municipal Assembly of Visegrad, the Secretariat of the Interior
and the political organizations of Visegrad requesting them to prevent terrorist
actions by PDA members against Serbs in Visegrad.
In
the night between September 1 and 2, 1991, members of the PDA broke into the
premises of the Secretariat for National Defence of the Commune of Visegrad,
cracked open all the safes and took away the military documentation from them.
Fikret Cocalic ‑ the president of the Municipal Assembly of Visegrad
‑ said in a statement for the local paper that it had been "the people"
that had taken away the documents and that he agreed with it. Only at a meeting
with the high Public Prosecutor from Sarajevo, on September 25,1991, devoted
to the events of September 22 and 23, 1991, did Cocalic promise that the documentation
would be returned. The documentation was returned three months after it had
been seized, but even then it was not accessible to the Serbs (it was held under
lock and key by a Muslim officer of the Secretariat of National Defence, a PDA
member).
On
October 7, 1991, a large group of armed Muslims blocked the entrance to the
Public Security Station in Visegrad while Avdija Sabanovic was being interrogated
in it. Senad Kahriman, showering abuse at the policemen, threatened to blow
up the building if Sabanovic was not released, and then fired a number of shots
two of which hit the Public Security Station building. Sefko Kosuta also threatened
to kill the policemen and to blow up the building. Esad Muslic ripped with a
knife the tyres of an official police vehicle, and Abdulah Celik removed the
hubcaps from the tyres of official police vehicles and urged the citizens to
attack the policemen. Murat Sabanovic fired a number of shots from his automatic
weapon. The memorandum the Public Prosecutor's Office in Visegrad sent to the
Attorney‑general's Office in Sarajevo, dated October 9, 1992 (signed by
the prosecutor Sahin Muhic, a Muslim) stated that Avdija Sabanovic had not
been summoned for an informative interview according to standard procedure before
having been brought in, and that he was served the summons only after that.
It also stated that "Murat Sabanovic from Visegrad and several of his fellow‑minded
companions opened fire from automatic weapons", but the wording of the
memorandum did not warrant the conclusion that there had been anything illegal
or dangerous in the fact that Sabanovic and his "fellow‑minded companions"
possessed automatic weapons although the possession of automatic weapons constituted
a criminal offence according to the Criminal Code of Bosnia in Herzegovina then
in force (article 213), so that the immediate and obligatory measure should
have been the seizure of such arms, followed by the institution of criminal
proceedings.
On
November 22, 1991 Zahid Hurem stopped the Serb M.M. in the street in Visegrad
pointing a gun at his head. He caught him by the epaulet on his army uniform
and asked him what he needed that for. M. swore and wrested himself away and
sought refuge in a nearby restaurant, but Murat Sabanovic, Zahid Hurem and another
Muslim found him there and all three pointed their pistols at his head. They
ordered him down on his knees and then hit him with their pistols until he collapsed,
blood streaming down his body. Mubekir Tabakovic joined the attackers, put a
pistol to M.'s stomach and took all the money he found in his shirt pocket (US
$ 30, DM 50 and some dinars). M. was attended to at the first aid medical station.
The next day M. went to see the commanding officer of the Police Station, Podzic
(a Muslim), who asked him more questions about his participation in the war
in Croatia than about the incident of the day before, showing in fact no willingness
to take any action in earnest (he said that "things would be taken care
of").
In 1991 the "Ivo Andric"
Library in Visegrad was evicted from its premises at the order of its then director
Enver Jasarevic, a member of the PDA. The premises were then leased to Zaim
Kustura, a member of the Executive Board of the PDA in Visegrad, to set up a
private business.
Although
the village of Prelovo was predominantly inhabited by Muslims, the majority
of the elementary school teachers in the village were Serbs because the Muslim
teachers found employment and were transferred much more easily to vacant posts
in the elementary school in Visegrad. In the beginning of 1991 an abrupt change
in the behaviour of the pupils and their parents towards the Serb teachers in
the school became evident. The pupils' parents spread around lies, for instance
that the teachers beat their children, ripped off their neck chains with crescent
pendants, etc. Two Serb teachers were forced to shave off their beards as all
Serb teachers were designated "Chetniks". Some Serb teachers were
accused of having taken the children on an excursion to visit the monasteries
in Serbia and forcing the children to cross themselves on that occasion. Irritated
by these falsehoods and ungrounded attacks, S.V. used a vulgar expression at
a meeting of the teachers' faculty, which was used as a pretext to provoke a
wholesale riot, so that the school was shut down for five days.
When the Serbian language teacher R.L. delivered
a lecture on St.Sava as the first Serbian scholar and educator, as part of the
curriculum, she was accused of catechizing and a veritable revolt followed in
the Muslim villages, and at the insistence of the school principal a team of
inspectors arrived from Sarajevo.All this was part of the pressures exerted
on teachers of Serb nationality to make them leave the school and the Visegrad
area. This was only accentuated by the threats made by the Muslim Mehmed Lubarda,
a junior classes teacher in the same school, who said that the ustashi would
slit their throats.
In 1991 the Muslims effected
personnel changes in the Secretariat of the Interior department in Visegrad,
placing their people in key positions. Thus Seval Murtic was appointed superintendent
of the Public Security Station and they tried to install Avdija Sabanovic as
commanding officer of the Police Station despite his having participated in
acts of violence committed in the area of the commune, but the Serbs managed
to prevent this.
In order to engineer further personnel shifts,
the Muslims resorted to various pressures. Thus Murat and Avdija Sabanovic with
members of the Green Berets, uniformed and armed, fell upon the Police Station
and held the workers inside under a blockade all day. People from the Ministry
of the Interior in Sarajevo came and the Muslims demanded of them to make further
personnel shifts. After this incident, Ilijas Sumeska was appointed deputy
commanding officer, and Milan Josipovic ‑ the deputy commanding officer
until that day, remained unassigned with a specific duty. A number of Serb policemen
were suspended from duty and only later, after strong insistence of the Serbs,
were they returned to their positions. In March 1992, Muslim policemen drove
away in lorries belonging to the Ministry of the Interior weapons from the Police
Station, which they took out of the premises through the storeroom window. When
the Police Station commanding officer Dragan Tomic saw them and asked them what
was going on, they denied him entry into the storeroom. After this incident,
all the Serb policemen quit their jobs at the Public Security Station. In order
to exert pressures on the Serbs and prepare to deal with them the Muslims established
links along various lines. Thus for instance people who had never been there
before started coming to the Public Prosecutor's Office in Visegrad to see the
prosecutor Sahin Muhic. He also had meetings with Murat and Avdija sabanovic,
the main protagonists of organized violence against the Serbs.
Pressures
were being brought to bear on the Serbs at their work places as well so that
they would leave of their own accord or, if not, they would be served notice.G.K.,
employed with the enterprise "Granit" was sent on a two‑year
paid leave, so as not to interfere with the Muslims' manufacturing of explosive
devices in the enterprise workshops. When, in one of the workshops, on the table
of the boss Haso Feric, K. saw a bomb case filled with dynamite, complete with
cap and fuse, one of the Muslims tried to convince him that it was intended
for fishing. S.M., of Serb nationality, was removed from her position as agricultural
inspector, although she had a university diploma and was a good worker, and
a Muslim was employed in her stead. Towards the end of March 1991, D.G. stopped
coming to work at the "Visegrad" hydro‑electric power plant
because of the threats he had been exposed to at work on the part of his Muslim
fellow‑ workers. Because of harassment and threats by the Muslims in the
enterprise "Varda" where she was employed, S.N. also stopped coming
to work.
On the morning of December
15, 1991 the city of Visegrad awoke decked with Muslim nationalistic slogans,
e.g.: "Long live Murat, SDP you will be wearing fezzes yet, long live the
PDA, Muslims stick together ‑ PDA ‑ the Party of beloved Allah",
etc.
On January 12, 1992, Hasan
Sabanija from Gornja Crnca killed the Serb Ranko Baranac in his house in the
village of Bijela, shooting him from a pistol at close range, for no reason
whatsoever, except that the victim was a Serb. Sabanija was a guard at the DP
"Panos" in Visegrad and carried an official gun; he came to Baranac's
house about 1.00 p.m. and was accorded hospitality there (he and the host had
brandy and some roast meat). He committed the crime around 3.00 p.m., after
Ranko's wife had left the house on an errand.
The
pressures exerted on the Serbs took various forms. Thus the Muslims of the village
of Orahovica shut off every access path to the house and estate of M.Z., a Serb,
on the pretext that they were fencing off their properties. In the village of
Koritnik, the Muslim Medo Kurspahic placed a large rock on the road in front
of the entrance to the house of M.G., claiming that he needed it to block in
place the wheels of his cart when the team of draft animals was resting. Prior
to the outbreak of war a meeting of Serbs and Muslims was held in the village
of Koritnik. When M.G. said that the meeting was not in fact necessary, as there
existed the authorities whose duty it was to handle the situation, Semo Kurspahic
replied that they ‑ the Muslims ‑were the authorities and that the
meeting was only supposed to make life easier for the Serbs in the sense of
making it easier for them to get used to living under Muslim rule. M.G., in
whose house the meeting was held, offered his guests some brandy, which offer
Semo Kurspahic turned down in vulgar language. Kurspahic forbade the Muslims
to have any, adding that the time would soon come when not even the Serbs would
be allowed to drink brandy (alluding to the establishment of a Muslim state
in which the consumption of alcohol would be forbidden).
Before the war broke out,
B.K. set out from Dobrun in his car together with the Muslim Muhic, nicknamed
"Madjar"(the Hungarian). As they talked, K. asked Muhic what was going
on and the latter replied that the time had at long last come to see who ruled
the roost.
Returning from the village
of Bogolica, K. met the Muslims Edo Mutapcic and Husein Hajdarevic and Hajdarevic
told him: "All this will be ours, and as for you Chetniks, we will slaughter
the lot of you".
On another occasion, during
a chance meeting, Hajdarevic asked K: "Why did you not show up last night
so that we could kill you off?" Hajdarevic was referring to a meeting the
Muslims had organized ostensibly to reach agreement with the Serbs.
Designation of crime: Crimes against humanity (Article 5. of ICTY Statute)
In the first half of April 1992, when the conflict
was breaking out, the Muslims in Visegrad fired shots through the town, intercepted
Serbs and beat them up. By loudspeaker they called the Serbs to surrender,
threatened to kill them and set fire to their houses, saying that the Serbs
had no chances whatsoever, because they ‑ Muslims ‑ had machine
guns, mortars and hand mortars.
On April 11, 1992, armed
Muslims, lead by the Muslim militia, attacked the Serb village of Nikitovici
and took prisoner seven members of the Serb militia: M.D., S.L., N.V., N.K,
R.R., G.M. and S.M. as well as five Serb civilians who were defending the village:
N.N., A.N., I.Dj. and B.
They bound the prisoners'
hands behind their backs with wire and then tied them one to another and took
them on foot towards Visegrad. On Rodim hill they pushed them in front of themselves
as a live shield towards the positions from which Serbs were firing.
After arriving at Visegrad they were put into
the cellar of the Public Security Station building. There, while they were still
tied up, they were beaten by Meho Kasapovic, a policeman. He beat his once
colleagues policemen: S.L, N.V. and M.D. the most, kicking them in the back.
Enver Dzaferovic caught M.D.
by the back of the neck and banged his head on the wall.
They were taken for interrogration
where they were insulted, threatened and beaten. Policeman Hodzic told N.N.
that none of the captured Serbs would ever again "see the light of day".
M.D. and S.L. were kept in the building of the
Public Security Station while the others with their hands tied and blindfolded
were taken out of the building and under a shower of blows from nightsticks
and fists, loaded on a van which took them to the storehouse of the "Zito"
enterprise in Visegrad. They were also beaten when getting off the van, mostly
by Nermin Sisic and a young man with the nickname of "Zumance". Nedin
Ustamujic, Nermin Sisic, a young man with the surname of Barimac, Ramic, Susko
Eniz and Bahto beat them the most.
The following day, at about
10.00 p.m. Avdija Sabanovic, Zaim Hurem and a guard in the "Varda"
enterprise, called ]amil, came and told the prisoners that they were going to
the place of Murat (Sabanovic) where they would be skinned, circumcized, their
fingernails pulled out and be slaughtered. R.N. fainted upon hearing these threats.
They tied their hands with
wire, put them on a truck, tied them to the sides of the truck and drove them
to the "Visegrad" hydroelectric power plant, where a large number
of Muslims had gathered, including Murat Sabanovic. The prisoners were cursed
and insulted, especially by Fahrudin Kadric, called "Vatra". R.N.
lost a piece of flesh on his hand where he had been tied with wire tightened
with pliers.
The prisoners were put in
the machine hall of the power plant, which is below the level of water in the
lake. The floor was covered with water. M.D. and S.L. were brought to the same
premises about midnight.
They had to stand in the
water and could neither sit nor lie down. The air was saturated with steam and
they could hardly breathe.
Zahid Hurem and Bemirovic ordered the prisoners
to cut one another's hair, and then they too started shaving bald the heads
of the prisoners. They made a cross on I.Dj's head, and cut off S.M's moustache
with a pair of scissors.
They were taken out of the
room and beaten. They beat S.L. for about half an hour with their feet, nightsticks
and pieces of reinforced steel. Sead Bemirovic hit M.D. on the back with a piece
of reinforced steel.
They kicked N.K. with their
feet, beat him with their hands, rifles, a plank and a piece of reinforced steel.
They knocked out two of his teeth and he had bruises all over the body. They
took out their knives and threatened him. Taib Buragdzic took a broken bottle
and threatened K. saying: "I did not slaughter your grandfather so I will
slaughter you".
The following day, on April 13, 1992, S.L. N.V.,
M.D., R.N., N.N. and S.M. were taken out for interrogation. They were questioned
by Ilijas Sumeska and a young man called "Zenga". They were beaten
with nightsticks and forced to sign some statements. Sead Bemirovic, ]amil Ramic
and Avdija Sabanovic who, with the barrel of his rifle, hit D. in the stomach
many times, were especially cruel to the prisoners.
So as to give the imprisonment
of the captured Serbs a semblance of legality, they passed decisions on detention
for some of them without even mentioning the name of the criminal act they charged
them with. Thus, the decision of the Visegrad Public Security Station of April
11, 1992, on the detention of M.D. only says that "he was caught committing
a criminal act" without specifying the act itself or any facts indicating
the existence of a criminal act.
In the afternoon of April
13, 1992, the prisoners were taken out to the Nezuci tunnel above the hydro
electic power plant, and used as a shield towards Serb‑held positions.
Samir Sabanovic cocked his rifle showing readiness to shoot them, but someone
stopped him. After the water was discharged from the lake of the plant that
day the were taken to Gorazde. Dynamite had been planted under the bus they
had been loaded on, but a Muslim removed it. On the way Alija Sabanovic ordered
the guards to kill the prisoners and dump them in the Drina river, but the guards
would not do that. At Ustipraca the road had been severed and they did not manage
to take the prisoners to Gorazde. The Serb army liberated the prisoners.
Perpetrators:
1. Zijo Subasic, commander of a Muslim military unit,
2. Enver Dzaferovic,
3. Meho Kasapovic,
4. Zahid Hurem,
5. Avdija Sabanovic,
6. Taib Buragdzic,
7. Hodzic, a policeman from Visegrad,
8. Nermin Sisic,
9. Fahrudin Kadric, called "Vatra",
10. Sead Becirevic,
11. ]amil Ramic,
12. Nedin Ustamujic,
13. Eniz Susko and
14. Samir Sabanovic.
In
mid‑1992, two armed Muslims stopped L.S. on the road near the village
of Kuka (commune of Visegrad) and ordered him to take off a load of wood from
his horse. They loaded the horse with their things and forced S. to lead the
horse towards the village of Kamenica. On the way they were joined by two other
armed Muslims and they all spent the night in the village of Garez. S. begged
them to let him go but they refused.
The following day they came
to a crossing on the Drina river in the place of Zlovan. There they had a short
discussion about what to do with S. who again begged them to let him go, and
one of them ordered him to get on the horse and run which he did.
Perpetrators:
1. Ramo Poljo, f.Omer,
2. Sead Seim, f.Osman,
3. Juso Poljo and
4. Sead Sabanovic, f. Hasib.
On
July 9, 1992, the Muslim Territorial Defense Headquarters of Visegrad passed
Order No.136/92 on the establishment of prisons in the territory of the commune
of Visegrad.
The following were to be
used as prisons:
1. Central prison ‑ for "soldiers and
other persons" in the place of Medjedja, "to house persons detained
of freedom for over 10 days".
2. "Prison premises" in the places of Crni Vrh, Drinsko, Okrugla,
Prelevo and Holijaci ‑ for soldiers and persons deprived of freedom up
to ten days.
The setting up of prisons
and security of the premises was entrusted to the military police.
The security of the Central prison in Medjedja
"and of all accompanying premises" was entrusted to the commander
of the military police of Medjedja who was to be assisted in this by the commander
of the battalion "16. maj" from Medjedja.
On August 8,1992, in the
attack on the Serb village of Bursici, Muslim soldiers caught three women: Mk.
K., Ml.K. and B.A. who had not managed to run away. Threatening and cursing
them, they took them towards the village of Medjedja.
On the way, in Barice, a
Muslim soldier "interrogated" Ml.K. asking her about the whereabouts
of "Chetniks" and threatened to slit her throat. He told her to cross
herself, because her "last day had come".
In Medjedja they put them in a room in the building
of the Cooperative Center. They were held there until November 20, 1992, when
they were exchanged. During the first three days they were given neither food
nor water, and after that they got food once a day ‑ a little bread and
sometimes some soup, as well as drinking water, but not regularly. They slept
on the floor without any blankets, lightly dressed. The roof was damaged so
rain leaked into the room.
They had no conditions for maintaining personal
hygiene. They could not wash their faces, comb their hair or change their clothes.
They let them go to the toilet outside rarely so they had to use a bucket in
the room in which they were.
They were taken out for alleged
interrogation and questioned about the whereabouts of individual Serbs, and
Ml.K. was asked about the place of "buried arms". During questioning
they threatened to slit their throats and brought two Alsatians who snarled
and barked at them.
When Mk.K. was being interrogated,
the Muslim soldier Halil Gegic, beat her on the chest, right shoulder and back
with his rifle butt and stomped on her in his booted feet. Mk. fainted during
this maltreatment and beating.
Hamdo Muharemovic beat Ml.
K. all over the body with a nightstick, so that she was "black and blue"
from the blows. This lasted some 20 minutes and she could not stand on her feet
due to the injuries she had sustained. While Muharemovic beat her, two soldiers
held their rifles aimed at her.
On St. Krsto's Day, September 27,1992, Hamdo Muharemovic
who was drunk beat all three imprisoned women with his hands, rifle butt and
his booted feet. He put his rifle barrel to Ml.K's head and fired, then pulled
her by the hair and drew a knife over her throat as if to slit it, and then,
dragging her by the hair threw her on the floor.
He tried to push his rifle
barrel in Mk.K's mouth, but he missed and flayed the skin under her neck. He
pushed his rifle into B.A's mouth and knocked out one of her teeth.
On August 17, 1992, the three imprisoned women
were taken to the tunnel at Brodar on the road to Visegrad, inside which were
Serbs who would not surrender. First they made B.A. take a message to the Serbs
in the tunnel to surrender. Afterwards they made all three women go into the
tunnel and they followed them. Shooting broke out and the women hid against
the wall, and then they were taken back.
After this event, for seven
consecutive days, armed Muslims took Ml.K. to the same tunnel, forced her to
go inside and invite the Serbs to surrender. Once they told her to carry out
a wounded man from the tunnel. She had heard he was from Uzice and that his
name was Novak, but he, severely wounded in the leg, would not let her carry
him out of the tunnel, and when she went back, a Muslim soldier threw a bomb
at the wounded man and killed him.
Due to the maltreatment and
grave living conditions the health of the imprisoned women has been damaged.
Mk. K. underwent surgery in the hospital in Uzice.
Perpetrators:
1. Hajro Hanic, policeman from Visegrad,
2. Enes Lemezan, waiter from Medjedja,
3. Halil Gegic, from Medjedja,
4. Hamdo Muharemovic, from Medjedja, f. Avdija,
5. Ekrem Muharemovic.
Designation of crime: Genocide (Article 4. of ICTY Statute)
When war broke out Muslims in Visegrad started
killing Serb civilians, carrying out their earlier threats which had become
especially frequent immediately before the conflicts started.
When the Muslim army was withdrawing from Visegrad
towards Gorazde, on April 13, 1992, after the water was discharged from the
lake of the "Visegrad" hydroelectric power plant, the lined‑up
Muslims were addressed by Murat Sabanovic with the following words: "We
are going further now. Those who cannot slaughter and kill Serbs leave the line".
In the letter of Asim Muharemovic, deputy commander
of the Muslim batallion "16. maj" sent to the commander of the Territorial
Defense Headquarters of Visegrad, July 18,1992 is specified as the date of
"joint action for the attack from Zepa to Rogatica", and the aim of
the action is "to free as much territory as possible and to destroy the
personnel and the MTS aggressor". Events proved that the destruction of
"the personnel included the killing of Serb civilians ‑ old people,
women and children.
In the letter of Hajrudin Kurtalim, from the surroundings
of Visegrad, sent from Gorazde through the Red Cross to Ilija Gavrilovic from
Koritnik (Visegrad) ‑ there is mention in disguised and sarcastic fashion
of the rape of Serb women and the killing of Serbs ‑ about "sleeping
with Vlach women" in Gorazde ("the real thing") and "visiting"
his birthplace and "leaving presents" ("which I hear you have
found, which particularly pleases me"). At the end there is a P.S.: "My
regards to everyone, and especially to those families who found my presents.
Tell the others not to be angry, I will come again bringing a surprise for
them too".
"The presents"
are evidently the bodies of killed Serb civilians from the villages around Visegrad.
In
the first half of April 1992, Muslims attacked the Serb village of Glavice and
from firearms fatally wounded the unarmed civilian Mima Indjim, in the yard
of the house of his son‑in‑law Gojko Djuric. Indjim died
before medical aid could be extended.
Perpetrator: Huso Kuspahim, a policeman in Visegrad
before the war.
In the spring of 1992, armed
Muslims in the place of Stitarevo (commune of Visegrad) killed the Serb civilian
Nedjo Lindo
from Trsevina and wounded
another man.
Perpetrators:
1. Mustafa Vilim,
2. Camil Karim,
3. Ramiz Cocalic and
4. Kurspahic, called "Car".
On
June 9,1992 in the village of Vlahovici, at a place called KrFevina, Muslim
soldiers shot the following Serb civilians: Dragomir Simsim, born in 1945 and
his wife Perka Simsim born in 1941 from the village of Vlahovici. They fired
at the victims in the village road, from close range. Many bullet wounds from
firearms were found on the bodies of the victims.
That same day, in the same village, at a place
called Kulinovo brdo, the Muslim soldier Ragib Hurem slit the throat of the
Serb civilian Bozo Simsim, born in 1932, from Vlahovici. The body of the victim
was found with slit throat, without the right fist and with stabs in the chest.
Perpetrators:
1. Hamdo Bajic, from Velika Gostilja, f. Asim
and m. Mejrema.
2. Adil Sabanovic, from Mala Gostilja, where
he was born on November 27, 1972, f. Rifet.
3. Ragib Hurem called "Rapce" from Mala Gostilja, born on
September 24, 1960, f. Ragib,
4. Pojo Ramo, f. Omer, from Vlahovici,
5. Mirsad Bulatovic, f. Sefik, from Vlahovici.
In June 1992, during the
attack on the Serb village of Zemljice Muslim soldiers killed Bozo Vujkim, a Serb
civilian about 65 years old on the threshold of his house and set fire to the
village.
Perpetrators: Esef Sibalo and other Muslim soldiers.
In
mid‑1992 in the village of Kozar, Muslim soldiers found Stoja Tomic in
the house of her brother Ilija Kozarac and when she tried to flee wounded her
and then took her so wounded along with them for a month and tortured her. They
forced her to go escorted by a Muslim woman to the village of Petrusa and bring
all the family jewelry from her summer cottage (rings, gold coins, etc.) and
give it to them. After that they slit her throat and left her unburied.
Perpetrators: Muslim soldiers.
On July 21, 1992 in Kustur
Polje Muslim soldiers opened fire at a passenger car type "Golf" with
licence plates GZ 584‑00 which Zeljko Tasic from Bosanska Jagodina was driving
from Uzice to Visegrad. Tasic was hit in the head and his fellow‑traveller
Ivica Marinkovic from Uzice, in the chest. Their injuries were fatal and they
died on the spot. As the car turned over Lj. C. from Uzice, who was also in the
car, sustained injuries.
Perpetrators:
1. Mustafa Smajic from Donje Dubovo, born in Donje Dubovo on October
1, 1972,
2. Ragib Hurem, from and born in Mala Gostilja on September 24, 1960,
f.Ragib.
Visegrad, Krajiskih brigada
Str. a group of Muslim soldiers shot dead the Serb civilian Ranko Samardzic
from Visegrad. He was shot at close range as he was riding his bicycle on his
way home. The victim had a piercing wound on the right side of the back of his
head.
Perpetrators:
1. Kemal Isic, from Visegrad, born in Dobrun
on October 4, 1957, f. Semso.
2. Ibrahim Susko, from and born in Visegrad
on May 8, 1959, f. Smail.
3. Hasan Veletovac, from Visegrad, born on January
26, 1957 in Cengici, f. Himzo.
On July 22, 1992 Muslim soldiers
surrounded in the village of Donja Lijeska the house of Radojka Rajak, born
in 1928. When she appeared in the doorway, they shot at her from firearms and
wounded her severely. Then, Ramiz Nuhanovic walked up to Radojka and shot her
in the head, killing her. A number of firearm wounds were found on the victim's
body.
Perpetrators:
1. Ramiz Nuhanovic from and born in the village of Tusta Medj, on January 19,
1964, f. Ramo,
2. Nezir Mesic, from Visegrad, born in the village of Tusta Medj on May 29,
1949, f. Halil,
3. Himzo Velic, born on November 15, 1958 in the village of Hamzici, f. Sarija,
4. Nesib Nuhanovic, from Gornja Crnca, born on February 12, 1958, in the village
of Hamzimi, f. Hasim,
5. Ramiz Arnautovic, from Visegrad, the suburb of Okolista, born on June 26,
1950 in the village of Jelacici, f. Bajro.
On August 1, 1992 Muslim
soldiers, commanded by Ahmet Sejdic attacked the undefended Serb village of
Jelasci, on the right bank of the Drina river, adjacent to the border with Serbia,
and shot dead all Serb civilians who had not managed to escape, including children.
The
following were killed:
1. Dragan Susnjar, born in 1928
2. Slavka Susnjar (f), born in 1930
3. Mile Savic, born in 1943
4. Petka Savic (f), born in 1945
5. Radomir Savic, born in 1949
6. Trivun Jelicic, born 1929
7. Sava Jelicic (f), born in 1920
8. Mira Jelicic (f), born in 1960
9. Vidoje Jelicic, born in 1982 (a minor)
10. Dragana Jelicic (f), born in 1984 (a minor).
The bullet‑ridden bodies of the victims were
found in or around their houses.
Perpetrators:
1. Ahmet Sejdic, from and born in Drokan (Visegrad)
on January 2, 1960, f. Ibro, m. Zemka
2. Ibro Kabaklija, from Visegrad, born on November 25, 1967 in Kosovo Polje
(Visegrad), f. Ahmet, m. Ifeta
3. Bakir Kabaklija, from and born in Visegrad on April 2, 1962, f. Salko and
m. Behija
4. Nermin Kabaklija, from and born in Visegrad on January 14, 1966, f. Ahmet,
m. Ifeta
5. Zakir Jamak, from and born in Kosovo Polje on May 4, 1969, f. Husein
6. Salko Kos, from and born in Kosovo Polje on February 4, 1951, f. Sulejman,
m. Mula
7. Bajro Mehanovic from Kosovo Polje, born in Sarajevo on October 1, 1949, f.
Hadzo
8. Alija Dzafo, from Brstenica, born on October 26, 1970, f. Avdija, m. Fadila
9. Sakib Cakir, from and born in Visegrad on July 17, 1957, f. Abid, m. Rasima
10. Adem Kos from and born in Kosovo Polje on November 26, 1958, f. Sulejman,
m. Mula
11. Esad Jamak from Kosovo Polje, f. Avdo, m. Hafa
12. Rasim Cakar from and born in Zakrsnica on December 2, 1967, f. Asim, m.
Safija
13. Alija Dzafo from Visegrad, born on August 4, 1951 in Gornja Brstenica, f.
Ibrahim, m. Saha.
On August 4, 1992 in the
Serb village of Zagradje, a group of Muslim soldiers killed the civilian Milan
Knezevim, born in 1941 by first slaughtering him and cutting off his arms at
the elbows and his legs at the knees, and then setting fire to the house in
which he was. The semi‑burned carbonized body of the victim with the limbs
chopped off was found in the ash heap.
Perpetrators:
1. Ibro Kabaklija, called "Cimbur" from
Visegrad, born on November 25, 1967 in Kosovo Polje (Visegrad), f. Ahmet
2. The brothers Vilim, Muslim soldiers
3. Menzilovic, a Muslim soldiers
