Committee Compiling Data on Crimes
Against Humanity and International Law
B E L G R A D E
CRIMES COMMITTED BY CROATIAN ARMY, CROATIAN DEFENCE COUNCIL AND POLICE FORCES AGAINST THE RESIDENTS OF MRKONJIĆ-GRAD AND ITS SURROUNDINGS IN AUTUMN 1995
The territory of the municipality of Mrkonjić-Grad is situated in the west of the Republic of Srpska, occupying an area of 679 sq. km. As a component part of Bosanska Krajina the entire territory is bordering on the adjacent municipalities of Banja Luka, Ključ, Glamoč, Šipovo, Kneževo and Jajce.
The administrative, economic and cultural centre of the municipality is Mrkonjić-Grad. It is located at the cross-road of the Split-Banja Luka and Jajce-Bihać highways (called Put AVNOJ-a). It is 60 km from Banja Luka and 25 km from Jajce. It is positioned 591 m/m above sea level.
The settlement of Mrkonjić-Grad was built on its present location in 1593, when sultan¢ s Kizlar-agha Đukanović, coming from the adjacent village of Kotlina, from the Serb family of Đukanović, had founded his vakuf (endowment) there. According to tradition, Turkish soldiers had killed his father at that very place before taking him away to Constantinople to be converted to Islamic faith and brought up as a janissary like all the other male Serb tribute-children that were recruited periodically into the Turkish corps of janissaries. He built a mosque, 24 shops, bakery, Turkish bath, water supply system, etc. He called the place Jenidže-kasaba - Novi Grad (New Town). Following the arrival of settlers from Varcarevo, the place was renamed Varcarev Vakuf and subsequently named again Varcar-Vakuf. It was given its present name in 1925 in memorial to a Serb ruler Petar I, Karađorđević who took part under the name of Petar Mrkonjić in revolt which flared in 1875 throughout Bosnia-Herzegovina. By the same token, the grateful people of Mrkonjić-Grad erected a Monument dedicated to the memory of their King the Liberator in the centre of the town. In late 1941 Ustashas demolished that monument in the most barbaric way. The monument was destroyed by a German tank. As a collaborator of the occupying power one of the town residents Sulejman Dedić, son of Salih, tied a steel-made loop around the bust.
As a vital strategic locality Mrkonjić-Grad was being liberated thirty-nine times during World War Two. Out of 1,800 fighters who were engaged in the anti-fascist struggle 525 were killed in combat while fascist terror claimed 1,902 victims. It is evidenced by a memorial plaque placed on the building in which fascists killed 250 people during August and September 1941, as well as the cemetery in which 143 victims fallen to fascist terror were buried, etc. A total of 1,200 buildings were destroyed including all schools and public buildings. On November 25, 1943, it hosted the meeting of the First Anti-Fascist Council for National Liberation of Bosnia-Herzegovina (ZAVNOBiH).
Following the end of the war, a once provincial town and a typical Bosnian borough evolved into a town with original architectural projects founded on tradition of past building construction.
Highly advanced lumber industry, tourism and catering services were the most significant factors in the post-war period of development.
In the territory of the municipality the situation was as follows:
1971. 30,159 inhabitants in 6,325 households
1981. 29,684 inhabitants in 7,060 households
1991. 27,379 inhabitants in 7,865 households
The following table shows the ethnic composition of population:
|
YEAR |
1981 |
1991 |
|
TOTAL |
29,684 |
27,379 |
|
SERBS |
23,364 - 78,7% |
21,159 - 77,3% |
|
MOSLEMS |
3,009 - 10,1% |
3,275 - 12,0% |
|
CROATS |
2,290 - 7,7% |
2,141 - 7,8% |
|
NATIONALLY UNDETERMINED |
883 - 3,0% |
- |
|
OTHERS |
81 - 0,3% |
220 - 0,8% |
|
UNKNOWN |
57 - 0,2% |
- |
|
YUGOSLAVS |
- |
- |
From the beginning of the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the territory of the municipality of Mrkonjić-Grad were not recorded either larger scale conflicts among the population or extensive destruction and demolition of civilian facilities and their property.
However, following a military action called "Storm", members of the Croatian Army - 4th Guards brigade of the Croatian Army from Split, commanded by general Matijašević and Croatian Defence Council occupied the territory of Mrkonjić-Grad on October 10, 1995.
The majority of population withdrew towards Banja Luka, but a smaller number, mainly the elderly and motionless people, remained in that area. The Croatian Army members killed them, as well as the captured members of the Army of the Republic of Srpska. Their corpses were buried in the Orthodox and Moslem cemeteries in Mrkonjić-Grad. Also, a larger number of corpses were found at places where those persons had been killed. Nothing is known of the whereabouts of a number of civilians and captured members of the Army of the Republic of Srpska and the authorities registered them as missing persons.
In the course of burial of the remains of the killed population taking place at the Orthodox cemetery in Mrkonjić-Grad, a story prepared by its reporter Ante Ivanković was broadcast by Croatian television on its evening informative programme in October 1995. This story was accompanied with the statement issued by Dr. Boris Zdilar, surgeon general of the Croatian Defence Council who claimed that those corpses were only the dead bodies of "belligerent soldiers" and that their investigative team "was carrying out investigation and examination of those corpses in accordance with the prescribed international rules".
According to the Dayton Agreement this area was given back to Serb authorities in February 1996.
The examining judge of the Military Court in Banja Luka ordered the exhumation of the grave at the Orthodox cemetery in Mrkonjić-Grad. The exhumation was carried out by the end of March and in early April 1996. On that occasion were found 181 corpses in the mass grave at the Orthodox cemetery. All the identified were of Serb nationality. The eldest among the killed was a 91-year-old Jovan Lezendić from Podbrdo, while Ljubica Oroz from Bočac, age 90, was the eldest among the killed women.
According to data available to the Committee, so far were identified 219 persons, out of which 136 at the Orthodox cemetery in Mrkonjić-Grad.
The corpses of the following persons were found among the identified:
Following the excavation of the mass grave at the Orthodox cemetery, exhumation was carried out at the Moslem cemetery in Mrkonjić-Grad in which additional 6 corpses were found. It was established that the identified individuals were members of Moslem nationality.
The following two corpses were identified: Enes Salihbašić from Banja Luka - 121 Rudarska Street, born on October 22, 1954 in Banja Luka, to father Enver and mother Nedžiba Ljeskavica from Banja Luka, and Sava Ljuboja, born in 1949 in Banja Luka, to father Vejis.
The medicolegal experts from the Belgrade Military Medical Academy performed the autopsy on the corpses discovered at the Orthodox and Moslem cemeteries. An invited representative of the Hague Tribunal, John Garns, a forensic expert was in attendance of the excavation process over the first two days. Together with present forensic physicians he examined 22 exhumed dead bodies (16 men and 6 women). Out of that number, on 12 bodies he found injuries in the form of skull fractures inflicted by smashing or striking.
Forensic team explorations were monitored on a daily basis by authorized IFOR representatives and other official international institutions stationed in the territory of Bosnia-Herzegovina, domestic and foreign media representatives, humanitarian organizations, such as Mé decins sans frontiè res from Belgium, non-governmental organizations, such as Humanitarian Law Fund from Belgrade, etc. They were being informed of autopsy findings and themselves were free to photograph and examine at will the exhumed dead bodies.
Forms of violence
Exhumed bodies from the mass graves at the Orhodox and Moslem cemeteries in Mrkonjić-Grad were forensically investigated by experts from the Belgrade Military Medical Academy supervised by Dr. Zoran Stanković, a forensic medicine specialist, while a larger number of the remaining bodies were forensically examined by forensic medicine experts Dr. Ljubomir Curkić and Dr. Željko Karan. Bodies found in the mass graves were bearing single or combined injuries in the form of:
impressed fractures of cranium bones and bone fractures inflicted by smashing and striking with a blunt and heavy mechanical instrument;
beheading and amputating other parts of the body by striking with a mechanical instrument;
neck lacerations and tears in other regions of the body inflicted by striking with mechanical instrument blades;
piercing wounds inflicted by gunshots fired from personal firearms;
stabbing wounds inflicted with sharp-pointed mechanical instruments;
gaping wounds and contusions inflicted by striking with a blunt and heavy mechanical instrument;
blast effect wounds inflicted by the force of fragmentation of explosive devices.
Deaths of those individuals were caused by: smashing of and damaging vitally important brain centres, bleeding to death effected by torn and ripped blood vessels along the existing wounds’ channels, respiratory disorders, and alike.
Thus, for example, on the bodies of Krsta Kovjenić from Bočac, born in 1919, Nedeljko Kovjenić, from Bočac, born in 1920, Niko Marić from Mrkonjić-Grad, born in 1924, and Vid Podraščanin from Surjan, born in 1911, were found injuries in the form of fractures of cranium bones with damaged and smashed vital brain centers. Sava Dmitrović from Smiljanići, born in 1907, and Milka Đukić from Vrbljani, born in 1907, were found slain in their houses. Mirko Đukić from Donje Ratkovo, born in 1924, was killed together with his motionless wife Jovanka, born in 1924, while Milica Danilović from Vrbljani, born in 1927, was hung in a shack for smoking meat.
Although motionless, mentally handicapped and seriously ill persons were also found among the excavated victims, they had also been killed in the most savage and brutal ways. In the village of Surijan near Mrkonjić-Grad, at the site of the burnt down house of Pantelija Grmaš were found remains of the carbonized bodies of Pantelija, his wife Sava and his relatives: Jela and Radojka Jorgačević, Branka, Nevenka and Radojka Rožić and Branka Kudra. Also, a wheel-chair which she had used since she was 7 years old was found next to Radojka Rožić (age 34) and her dead parents.
Destruction and plundering of property
While the area was under the control of the Military and Police forces of the Republic of Croatia and Croatian Defence Council, practically all the households and apartment buildings were demolished and destroyed, while the property was plundered. Livestock was collected in an organized way and driven away, although a part of livestock and other domestic animals were killed. Also, the overall property of factories, institutions and other socially-owned facilities was destroyed and plundered and witnessed not only by the IFOR representatives and other international organizations, but also by Sadako Oghata and Elisabeth Rehn who visited the region.
STATEMENTS OF WITNESSES
This file of the Committee contains numerous statements of witnesses who have been heard. Presented here are just some excerpts reflecting characteristic accounts of the witnesses about the killings of their family members and the destruction of their property. The witnesses’ names are given under codes in order not to reveal their identity.
The witness 409/96-12, a housewife from the village of Medna near Mrkonjić-Grad, born in 1927, testified:
"When in October 1995 the Croatian army occupied our commune I was in the village with my husband; when the first group of Croatian soldiers came, they left us alone, but the second group, which came some time after that, rounded up the cattle in the village and drove them away. They swore at us cursing our Serbian and Chetnik mothers and threatened that we would all be killed. They wanted to know why we had not fled with the rest of the people.
One day in January 1996 a Croatian soldier burst into my flat, grabbed me by the arm and dragged me into another room asking about my age and pawing me and ripping my tights off and I screamed.
At that time Croatian troops killed our neighbour Čedo Tegeltija, whose body was buried by J. and P. who had also remained in the village.
The witness 409/96-13, a farmer, born in 1909, who also remained at home in the village of Medna, testified:
"When the second group of Croatian soldiers came to our village, they maltreated us viciously.
During the occupation they beat me on many occasions with sticks, fists or kicked me in various parts of the body. They tried to hang me thrice, putting a noose around my neck and swinging the rope over a beam and then tightening it. I fainted on such occasions and I had hematomata on the neck.
I was among those who buried Čedo Tegeltija, who was killed by Croatian soldiers in January 1996.
The witness 409/96-21, a farmer from Mrkonjić-Grad, born in 1935, stated:
"I lived in my house in the village of Gostovare near Mrkonjić- Grad. Before the Croatian army took our village on October 10,1995, all the villagers had left and fled in the direction of Banja Luka. I had no intention of escaping and I was the only one who remained in the village. When Croatian troops appeared I hid in the nearby woods watching them. I saw them come up to my front door and break it down. When night fell I went inside the house and found everything scattered all around the place and I collected the things and tidied the house up and then took some food and went to my shelter near the house. I saw Croatian soldiers touring my house every day.
One day two Croatian soldiers came and set my house on fire. Then they set fire to my brother D’s house which was some distance from mine. My house was burned to the ground and my brother’s was only half-burned. A couple of days after that Croatian soldiers came again and again set fire to my brother’s house. This time it, too, was burned to the ground. After this I had no place to come to any longer so I slept in my brother’s stable at night and hid in the forest during the day.
The witness 360/96-32 stated:
"My father was an attorney-at-law in Mrkonjić-Grad.
When on October 10, 1995, the Croatian army took Mrkonjić-Grad, my father was captured in town as he had had no opportunity to pull out. From then I knew nothing about him or his fate.
When on February 4, 1996, Mrkonjić-Grad reverted into Serbian hands, I found the Bar card belonging to my father in the house on Vaskrsije Samardžije street No. 96, under the staircase. Croatian troops had been stationed in that house so that I assume that my father had been taken there for investigation.
After the liberation of Mrkonjić-Grad, I also found the diary that my father had been keeping until October 10, 1995. On that date he made the last entry at 6. 30. a. m: The shellfire which started yesterday continues. Occasional shells were fired all night. In the morning at 6. 30 a. m. Mrkonjić and the surroundings came under a cannonade of shells. And the diary of my father ends with those words.
I found out that my father had been captured in the town by some Moslems who had come to Mrkonjić-Grad. I also found out that my father had been killed and buried in a mass grave in Mrkonjić- Grad, which was confirmed when that grave was opened in the beginning of April 1996. His "Seiko" watch was found on him, which had stopped on October 20,1995. The watch could have run for 24 hours after his death at the most, given its technical characteristics.
The witness 360-96-26, a housewife from Mrkonjić-Grad, born in 1922, stated:
"I lived in Mrkonjić-Grad for over 40 years. In October, 1995, when the Croatian army occupied Mrkonjić-Grad and the surroundings, the Serbian population left the town and the adjacent areas. I, however, stayed at home. Because of an illness affecting my leg which I had had for 11 years, I was immobile. When the Croatian army came they would occasionally come to my house, look at me and curse my Chetnik mother. They threatened me but they did not touch me. When a third group of Croatian soldiers came, one of them said that I had stolen his television set in Jajce, although I naturally had had nothing to do with it, and so he took my television away. Then he also seized the radio set and all my cutlery and a kitchen blender. I begged him to leave me at least the radio to have something to listen to. But he kicked me and left. A couple of days later, at 1 a. m. after midnight, a Croatian soldier came, and kicked open the locked front door. He swore at my Chetnik mother and demanded that I surrender the rifle which I did not have, so he hit me and held me tight around the neck saying that he would strangle me.
Throughout the occupation of Mrkonjić-Grad by the Croatian army I never went out as I am immobile, but I could see Croatian soldiers taking away valuables from the houses in the neighbourhood. I also saw them burn the house of my neighbour M. D.
The witness 360/96-48, a housewife, born in 1968, testified:
"My husband J. K. was captured by the Croatian army when on October 10, 1995 they took the area of Mrkonjić-Grad. As I was returning to the village of Kopljević I saw a horrendous sight. Dead cattle lay all around, and amid them the disintegrating bodies of civilians killed by the army in their homes.
The witness 360/96-19, a housewife from Mrkonjić-Grad, stated:
"My son D. P. was with his unit manning positions and was captured in the village of Surjan on October 10, 1995 by members of the Croatian army. B. B. told me that when they raided the village, Croatian troops killed all the people they found in it and burned the houses down, and also that he did not know what had become of my son after capture. His body was found in a mass grave in Mrkonjić-Grad..."
The witness 360/96-20, a driver from Podoruglo near Mrkonjić- Grad, stated:
"My son D. M. was captured in his native village by the Croatian army. I was informed of this by phone by M. V. , a Croatian woman from the same village, who told me that they had taken him to some camp in Livno. I believed all this until the mass grave in Mrkonjić-Grad was opened, where his body was also found.
My son had been captured by the Split Guard brigade commanded by general Matijaševim, who was killed in battle after which Croatian troops killed all Serbs, civilians and prisoners without exception."
The witness 360/96-23, a carpenter from Mrkonjić-Grad, stated:
"My father was apprehended by members of the Croatian army in the village of Šehovica, on October 10,1995. When they opened the mass grave in Mrkonjić-Grad, I recognized his body..."
The witness 360/96-27, a housewife, born in 1937, testified:
"My husband S. T. , 55 years old, remained in the village of Gornji Graci near Mrkonjić-Grad, and when in mid-October 1995 Croatian troops occupied our village, he was captured and taken away, as I found out later, to a camp.
His body was found in the beginning of April 1996 in Mrkonjić- Grad in a mass grave and I recognized it..."
The witness 360/96-54, born in 1924, a Moslem by nationality, stated the following:
"I and my husband remained in our house in Mrkonjić-Grad. On October 10, 1995, Croatian soldiers occupied Mrkonjić-Grad. They put us Moslems into the "Ivan Goran Kovačić" elementary school. There they held us for eight days and then we were sent home.
I and my husband stayed at home until December 9, 1995. We left the house only very seldom. On December 9 the Croatian army rounded up the Moslems in Mrkonjić-Grad and took them to Bugojno. We were transferred to the abandoned Serbian village of Poljice and stayed there until March 1, 1996, when we were allowed to return to Mrkonjić-Grad.
I do not know who killed the Moslems who are buried at the Moslem cemetery in Mrkonjić-Grad whose grave was opened in the beginning of April 1996.
I know that, apart from my own and another family, there are no more Moslem families left in Mrkonjić-Grad. The Moslems were taken away by the Croats during the occupation. Some were taken to Sanski Most, some to Bugojno and other places..."
The witness 360/96-55, a Moslem woman born in 1925, testified:
"During the war I lived in Mrkonjić-Grad. My daughter is ill and bed-ridden and I stayed at home with her. While Mrkonjić-Grad was in the hands of the Serbian army, no one touched me or harassed me. In October 1995, the Croatian army came to Mrkonjić-Grad and rounded up the Moslem population and took them to Bugojno and other places. As my daughter is immobile I did not want to go and the Croatian soldiers did not force me to go.
I do not know who killed the Moslems buried at the Moslem cemetery and when..."
The witness 410/96-7 stated:
"The area of the village of Bočaci was occupied by the Croatian army on October 12,1992.
Only elderly, sick and bed-ridden people had remained in the village. Among them was my father Danilo Djurdjević, born in 1921, a pensioner. He had had a stroke before the war and was bed-ridden and unable to leave the house..."
The witness 409/96-1, a pensioner from the vicinity of Mrkonjić- Grad, born in 1924, sta
ted the following:"I lived in the village of Stupari near Mrkonjić-Grad when on October 10, 1995 Croatian troops fell upon the village. The majority of the villagers had fled in the direction of Banja Luka. I tried to escape but I did not succeed because the Croatian army had cut off my retreat route. I hid in the forest for a couple of days and then returned home; three days after that a group of Croatian soldiers came, searched the house, and on satisfying themselves that I was alone, left.
While I was in the village of Stupari, Croatian troops came, took things out of the houses, rounded up the cattle, loaded all this on lorries and made off with it. In the village of Stupari Croatian soldiers set fire to about ten Serbian houses. I saw them burning, and houses in the neighbouring villages had also been set to fire.
I had been at home for 45 days when policemen from Mrkonjić-Grad came, among whom Stipo Bilandžija from the village of Ljeskovica near Jajce, and ordered me to come along with them to Mrkonjić- Grad. They locked me up in the cellar of the police station in Mrkonjić-Grad, in a separate room. Three days later, the policeman Pavo Jurić from the village of Majdan near Mrkonjić- Grad started to interrogate me hitting me with a truncheon on the head and shoulders. He put a knife to my throat cursing my Serbian mother and threatening that he would first cut my arm off with that knife and then slit my throat. There was another policeman there who kicked me and pounded me with his fists. At a certain point, he took my walking stick, which was about 3 cm in diameter, and whacked me on the head with it breaking the stick in two. I fainted. When I regained consciousness they continued to beat me. How long the beating lasted I have no idea, I only know that I came to the following morning around 10 o’clock.
After being held for 25 days in the police station prison in Mrkonjić-Grad I was taken to Jajce, where I was incarcerated for a further 33 days.
While I was in prison in Mrkonjić-Grad, one Croatian policeman told me that 191 killed Serbs were buried at the cemetery in Mrkonjić-Grad, and that they were all soldiers with no civilians among them.
When they came to take me away from my home to Mrkonjić-Grad, the policemen asked me why I had not left with the other Serbs and swore at my Chetnik mother, saying that there was no way I could continue to live in that area...."
The witness 409/96-18, a pensioner from the village of Kopljevići near Mrkonjić-Grad, born in 1932, stated:
"I remained at home with my wife until October 10, 1995. That morning the Croatian army pounced upon our village and I and my wife set out in the direction of Banja Luka to escape. Simo Stamenić and his sister Milica Čigoja came with us and the four of us walked to the village of Donji Čehovci. Croatian troops caught sight of us in that village and stopped us. Simo was in uniform and armed. The Croatian soldiers disarmed him and one of them took out a big knife and placed it under Simo’s throat telling him that he would slaughter him. The Croatian soldiers took Simo with them, but he wrested himself away grabbing hold of his sister Milica. Then the Croatian soldiers took both Simo and Milica towards the Kojić’s house and, when they were some 20 meters away from us, emptied a burst of gunfire into Simo and Milica killing them on the spot.
They let me and my wife go and we lived in Banja Luka until February 7, 1996, when, after the liberation, we returned to our village..."
The witness 818/95-10 from the village of Magedovac near Mrkonjić-
Grad stated:"When in September 1995 the villagers from our village fled in the direction of Banja Luka, only I and my wife remained at home in the village. No one came to our house for 15 days.
One morning I went out to look for the sheep. A group of soldiers stopped me. They asked me if I knew who they were, and I said that they were soldiers, to which they said that they were Croatian soldiers.
They ordered me to come with them. They took me to the school and started questioning me there. They asked whether I had any sons and where they were, they asked me where Serbian troops were, and when I said that I did not know, one of the soldiers started pounding me with his fists on one side of the face and another one on the other. While they hit me they cursed my Serbian mother. They pointed to a group of soldiers nearby roasting a pig on a spit and told me that they would roast me just like that. Some of the soldiers in that group were sharpening theirknives and, looking at me, told me that they would slaughter me, while others suggested that I be shot saying that that would be easier.
I was all covered with blood from the blows. One man came by, probably their commanding officer and asked me who had beaten me. I said: "What good will it do for me to tell you", and someone from the group said that I had been beaten by little Šarim from the village of Ljeskovica which is adjacent to my own village.
After this they drove me to the camp in the sports hall in Livno where I remained until the exchange..."
The witness 453/96-32, the secretary of the local community centre in the village of Sitnica, stated:
"Our village was attacked and occupied on September 15,1995, by the Moslem army and was under occupation for several days after which units of the Army of the Republic of Srpska liberated Sitnica. That is when we found the body of Milo Stupar, who was totally immobile due to an illness affecting his legs. He had a cut in the neck and a cross-shaped gash on his chest, around which were numerous knife pricks..."
The witness 453/96-52, born in 1938, from the vicinity of Ribnik, stated:
"With my family I lived in the village of Crkveno near Ribnik. When on September 14, 1995 the Croatian army occupied the village, the Serbian population left their homes and fled in the direction of Banja Luka, and I stayed on in the village with my wife on account of my bed-ridden sister who lived with us.
My sister remained in the house and I and my wife hid in the forest near the house. We saw Croatian troops come to the village, take things out of the houses and set the houses on fire. I and my wife occasionally came to the house late at night to see my sister and get some food.
As in November the weather grew cold, I and my wife returned home and one day Croatian soldiers came and ordered us to come with them.
They escorted us to Livno and placed us in the gym of a school. There they held us for 25 days and from there took us to be exchanged on December 7, 1995..."
The witness 453/96-43, a housewife, born in 1948, stated:
"I lived in the village of Zableće, in the commune of Ribnik, which was within the Republic of Srpska until September 14, 1995. That day our village and the surrounding area came under attack on the part of the Croatian army. During the attack most of the Serbian villagers fled in the direction of Banja Luka while I stayed at home. Croatian soldiers came and when they saw me they asked me why I had not fled too, and when I answered that I did not want to leave my home, they said that I could stay and that no one would harass me.
I stayed at home until October 4 or 5, 1995. That day Croatian troops came and told me that I could no longer stay there but had to go to Ključ for an exchange. They took me to Ključ and handed me over to some Moslem command. Then they took me to a house in which there already were 4 women and told us to stay put and not leave the house without permission from them. In the house we cooked our own food using the supplies we received from the Red Cross. We stayed there until February 18, 1996, when they allowed us to return to our village.
While we were being held in Ključ, Moslem soldiers passing by our building swore at us cursing our Serbian mothers and saying: "Where are the Serbs for us to slaughter them!". We were panic- stricken for we did expect them to walk into the house any minute and really slit our throats.
M. M. who was brought to our building was all black and blue and she told us that Moslem soldiers had beaten and maltreated her.
A certain Marica, who was nearly 90, was also brought to the building. She was brought in by Moslem police. Marica did not say that they had beaten her, but she died several days after she had arrived...."
The witness 453/96-46, a farmer, born in 1936, stated:
"I lived in the village of Donja Slatina near Ribnik. Croatian and Moslem troops occupied our village on September 14, 1995. Our village was populated exclusively by Serbs. The villagers fled in the direction of Banja Luka.
As my wife was gravely ill and bed-ridden at the time, I stayed at home and we were there when the Moslem army came. As they entered the village, Moslem soldiers set fire to some houses and other buildings in Donja Slatina. They looted the deserted houses and drove the cattle away.
When the Moslems reached my house they told me not to leave the house and that I would come to no harm.
As my wife died on the third day following the occupation, I buried her. Then the Croatian army came. They told me to stay at home and not to flee. They said that all the villagers would be returned to their homes. I remained at home throughout the occupation of the village. Croatian soldiers came every day to check whether I was at home.
They kept telling me that I was not to try to escape, for if I did that they would kill me.
I remained at home until the beginning of February, 1996, when the Republic of Srpska regained control over our area.
Only D. remained in our village. Her husband Mirko Barjaktarević had been taken away by the Croatian army. His body was found in a mass grave in Mrkonjić-Grad in April 1996. I was present when Croatian soldiers took Mirko Barjaktarević prisoner and took him away, but I do not know when he was killed..."
By this action the army and the police of the Republic of Croatia and HVO members committed crimes specified in the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the 1977 Additional Protocols thereto, as well as violated the 1948 Convention on the Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, i. e. committed the criminal offences specified under Articles 141-143 of the Criminal Code of SFR Yugoslavia (the Republic of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina have incorporated the provisions of these Articles into their criminal legislation).
PROOF: 156/96-18, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29, 31, 33; 360/96-16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 38, 42, 45, 46, 47, 48, 50, 51, 52; 409/96-2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14, 16, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37; 410/96-3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 24; 426/96-4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 23, 29, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 40, 41, 42, 44, 46, 47, 49, 52, 54, 55, 56, 59, 62, 64, 65; 818/95-12; 818/95-10; 453/96-4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31, 32, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 45, 46, 47, 48, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56; 491/96; 470/96; 549/96; 584/96.
Enclosures:
Military Medical Academy
Forensic Medicine Institute
17, Crnotravska street, Belgrade
tel/fax 011/664-334
No. 58/96
AUTOPSY REPORT
Name and surname and name: NIKO Marić (f. Ile)
Date and place of birth: 1924, Brdo, Mrkonjić-Gr
adResidence: Mrkonjić-Grad
Date and hour of death: ?
Autopsy requested by: Investigative judge of the Military Court in Banja Luka
Place and time of autopsy: Mrkonjić-Grad, April 2, 1996
Autopsy performed by: Lt. col. Zoran Stanković, M. D.
Capt. Miodrag Zdravković, M. D.
S. No. 58/96, page 2.
At the request of the investigative judge of the Military Court in Banja Luka, on Tuesday, April 2, 1996, within the compound of the “Gradnja” building material storage site in Mrkonjić-Grad, a
team of forensic experts of the Forensic Medicine Institute of the Military Medical Academy, comprising the following:assisted by the following:
performed a forensic examination of a body exhumed from the local Orthodox cemetery, which was in a black plastic bag.
To establish the identity of the deceased, the forensic team cooperated with authorized persons of the Public Security Centre in Banja Luka:
Gojko Vučenović, dactyloscopy expert The following attended the work of the team:
and the relatives of persons who went missing from Mrkonjić-Grad and the vicinity in the second half of 1995.
The inclement weather (rain and snow), low temperatures, the lack of X-ray apparatuses and other technical aids considerably hindered the work of the team who had to adapt their work to the existing possibilities weather- and technique-wise.
Military police secured the building in which the post-mortem was being performed.
The body was identified by the son of the deceased, Goran Marić, Mrkonjić-Grad, 96, Brdo street.
A. External Findings
1. The cadaver of a male, about 169 cm. long, weight about 65 kg. Well-developed skeleton and muscles, of medium nutriture. Postmortem flaccidity manifest in all muscle groups. No livor mortis observable. Skin colour grayish-greenish with a dark- brownish stain.
2. Hair graying, up to 60 mm. long, partly missing and easily pulled out from the roots in tufts. The soft tissues of the upper half of the face disintegrated, putrescent and partly missing. Of the teeth, the following are missing: 1, 6, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 28, 30 and 32; 2 and 5 have caps of yellow metal with a dental bridge for the missing Nos. 3 and 4 teeth, which is externally the colour of teeth and internally of a yellow- coloured metal, 11 and 25 have fallen out, 22, 29 and 31 are carious, while the masticating surfaces of other teeth are
S. No. 58/96, page 3.
worn out. The soft tissues of the neck putrescent and partly missing. Rib cage cylindrical, symmetrical. Stomach flush with the rib cage. Male type pubic area hairiness.
3. In the central portion of the face is an impressed fracture with the destruction of nasal bones in the direction of the cranial cavity, from which a number of capillary fractures radiate across the facial bones, which intersect to form osseous fragments of various forms and sizes.
4. The skin and subcutaneous tissue are putrescent, and partly missing in the upper half of the face, grayish-greenish with a dark brown stain in the other parts, and in the area of both shoulders, the front side of the lower half of the face, the neck and the right forearm they have turned into a saponaceous, sticky mass of gray-whitish colour.
5. There is no extraneous matter in the genital opening and anus, while the destroyed nasal and oral cavities and both ears contain a whitish sticky mass and a dark-reddish substance.
6. Apart from the described ones, there are no other visible and substantial changes or injuries on the body.
7. The following clothes were on the body: a white shirt with dark vertical stripes, grayish trousers with a herring-bone pattern and violet lining, white underpants and black woolen stockings. There were no shoes on the feet.
The clothes are wet, and the part adhering to the lower section of the neck is steeped in a dark reddish substance.
Two rings of keys were found in the clothes, a "Seiko" wrist watch on the left wrist, while no personal documents were found.
B. Internal Findings
a. Head
8. The scalp tissue is decayed, bloodstained. The calvarium and the cranial base present no signs of fracture or damage.
b. Neck and Chest
9. External examination did not establish any signs of injuries of or damage to the neck and rib cage, so that the chest cavity was not opened to examine the neck and sternal organs.
c. Abdomen
10. No signs of injury or damage of the abdominal wall established by external examination, so that the abdominal cavity was not opened to inspect the abdominal organs.
d. Bones
11. The present bones of the head, neck, torso and limbs were examined, and apart from the described impressed facial bones fracture, no signs of fracture or damage were established on the other bones.
S. No. 58/96, page 4.
PATHOLOGICAL-ANATOMICAL DIAGNOSIS
Mors violenta. Homicidium. Cadaver ex terra in stadio putrefactionis progressa et saponificationis. Fractura impressiva ossium faciei regionis nasi.
TRANSLATION OF PATHOLOGICAL-ANATOMICAL DIAGNOSIS
Violent death. Homicide. Cadaver from the earth in an advanced stage of putrefaction and saponification. Impressed facial bones fracture in the region of the nose.
OPINION
I. Cadaver from the earth, in an advanced stage of putrefaction and saponification, so that the actual cause of death cannot be established with certainty only on the basis of external examination.
However, on the basis of the autopsy findings, it may be claimed with great probability that death was violent and due to damage to vitally important cerebral centres, caused by an impressed fracture of the facial bones in the area of the nose.
II. The impressed facial bones fracture, described under item 3. of the External Findings, was inflicted by a blow of a blunt, heavy and swung mechanical object.
III. The putrefactive changes on the body are due to the lengthy time elapsed since the time of death, and on certain parts changes have been registered in the form of a saponaceous gray- whitish mass, due to the protracted time the body was in a wet grave.
IV. Homicide is the most probable cause of death.
CORONERS: Lt. col. Dr. Zoran Stanković
Specialist in Forensic Med.
Capt. Dr. Miodrag Zdravković
Specializing Forensic Med.
Supplement to Autopsy Report:
During the identification of the body by the son, the coroners were requested to establish the presence of the gallbladder, appendix and cutaneous scars due to the extraction of the mentioned organs by surgery. However, due to the advanced putrefaction of the skin, the presence of scars could not be established, but the coroners established on opening the abdominal cavity that there was no appendix and gallbladder, indicating that the same had been removed long ago by experts for treatment purposes.
S. No. 58/96, page 5.
Drawing 1. Location of the facial bones impressed fracture.
SOCIALIST FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA
SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA
Mrkonjić Grad Commune
DEATH CERTIFICATE
The following has been registered in the death registry for Mrkonjić Grad under ordinal number____ for the year of 1996:
Surname MARIĆ Sex: M
Name NIKO
Day, month, year
and hour of death 10 October 1995
Place of death Mrkonjić Grad
Day, month and
year of birth 2 February 1924
Place and commune
of birth Brdo
Citizenship Republic of Srpska
Residence and
address BRDO
Marital status Married
Surname and name
of spouse and
his/her name
before marriage Marić Stoja, nee Marčetsa
Surname and name
of parents Father Mother
Marić Ile Drinić Spasa
Place of funeral Brdo
Note:
No.
Mrkonjić Grad
7 May 1996 Registrar’s signature
360/96-32 KI No. 23-18/96
WITNESS HEARING RECORD
made on 4 May 1996 before an investigative judge of the Basic Court in Mrkonjić Grad in criminal proceedings against JOHN DOE for the criminal offense from article 142 of the Criminal Code.
JOVANKA VASIĆ, judge
RATKA ČOLIĆ, clerk
Witness:
GORAN MARIĆ - INJURED PARTY
Hearing also attended by:
Public Prosecutor
Defendant
Counsel
Started at 12:20 hrs.
The witness has been advised of his/her duty to tell the truth, not withhold anything, warned of the consequences of perjury, and told that he/she could refrain from answering questions likely to inflict upon the witness or a close relative of his/hers serious outrage, considerable material damage or entail criminal prosecution (article 229 of the Criminal Proceedings Law). The witness provided the following general information:
1) Name and surname GORAN MARIĆ
2) Father’s name NIKO
3) Occupation Attorney from Mrkonjić Grad, presently in Banja Luka
4) Place of residence BRDO village, Mrkonjić Grad, office at Banja Luka, tel. 078-33070
5) Place of birth MRKONJIĆ GRAD
6) Year of birth 21 June 1957
7) Relation to the unrelated
defendant and the
injured party
Having provided the above facts, the witness proceeded to make the following statement:
Before and during this war I lived with my family in the village of Brdo, the commune of Mrkonjić Grad, at the mentioned address. My late father Niko Marić and I had a lawyer’s office in Mrkonjić Grad at Karadjordjeva 12a.
At the beginning of the war Mrkonjić Grad was in the hands of the Army of the Republic of Srpska (RS) all until 10 October 1995. I was drafted in the RS Army. In the second half of 1995 the Croat Army very often attacked the Mrkonjić Grad commune from its positions by shelling from all weapons. The shelling grew more intense during September 1995 and culminated in early October. Therefore, an attack of the Croat Army on the Mrkonjić Grad commune was expected, especially since they held positions about 2 km away from Mrkonjić Grad.
According to my late father’s diary he was in the Mrkonjić Grad commune all until 10 October 1995, 6:30 a. m., as he wrote down in his diary. He also wrote that "yesterday’s shelling continues". Grenades could be heard all over the night. Around 6:30 a. m."Mrkonjić Grad and its surroundings came under an hailstorm of shells ". The diary I found in our family house ends with these words.
On the same day, the Croat Army occupied the Mrkonjić Grad commune and the town itself and probably captured my father in the town since he was not able to escape. Since that moment I knew nothing about his fate until 3 April 1996. I tried to learn anything about him but it was all unofficial, uncertain and unreliable. In early March I learned from some Moslems who were visiting Mrkonjić Grad that my father had been killed and buried in a collective grave, as confirmed when that grave was exhumed at the Mrkonjić Grad cemetery. On that occasion I positively identified my late father’s body. Namely, I saw the scars from the stomach operations he had undergone. Besides, I recognized the golden cap in his upper jaw, as well as a malformation of a left foot toe. He had the keys of our lawyer’s office in his pocket. I could also recognize his clothes. In his pocket I found a "Seiko" watch which stopped on 20 October 1995. Given its technical performances, the watch probably functioned at least 24 hours after his murder. The watch was given to the exhumation team.
Professor Dr. Zoran Stanković, pathologist, examined the body of my late father Niko Marić. He noted all the injuries. I personally saw that the head and facial bones were impressed, which could mean that he had been strongly hit by a dull object.
My father Niko Marić was born on 2 February 1924 in the village of Brdo, the commune of Mrkonjić Grad, of father Ile and mother Spasenija, nee Drinić. My father always carried most of his personal documents in his brief-case; when I returned to Mrkonjić Grad on 4 February when the Republic of Srpska regained control, I found his lawyer’s identity card under the staircase of the house at 96 Vaskrsija Samardžija. Since members of the
Croat Army stayed in that house, it can be assumed that my father was taken there and interrogated.
For some time my father was a judge and the president of the Mrkonjić Grad Basic Court. From 1972 to 1984 he was a judge of the High Court in Banja Luka. Then he retired and started working as a lawyer.
My father collected data on war crimes committed in World War 2 and I have many of these documents. Some of them were submitted to the Yugoslav Red Cross and are probably still there. In any case, their copies exist.
This is all I have to say for the time being.
I subscribe to the demands for the criminal prosecution of those who killed my father although I do not know what Croat unit or individual did it.
I have been informed that I have the right to read the record, however, since the record was read aloud, I shall not use that right.
Finished at 13 hrs.
CLERK
Ratka Čolić (signed) Goran Marić (signed) JUDGE
(signed)
Military Medical Academy
Institute for Forensic Medicine ZPSM
Crnotravska 17, Beograd
Tel. /Fax 011-664-334
S. No. 18/96
AUTOPSY REPORT
Name and surname: ANDJA DRINIĆ
Date and place of birth: 1910, Bočac village, Banja Luka
Residence: Bočac
Day and hour of death: ?
Autopsy requested by: Investigative judge of the Banja Luka
Military Court
Place and time of
autopsy: Mrkonjić Grad, 1 April 1996
Autopsy performed by: Lieutenant Colonel Zoran Stanković, M. D.
Captain Miodrag Zdravković, M. D.
S. No. 18/96, page 2.
At the order of the investigative judge of the Banja Luka Military Court, on Monday, 1 April 1996, in the "Gradnja" construction material storehouse in Mrkonjić-Grad, the following forensic medical team of the Institute for Forensic Medicine of the Military Medical Academy:
assisted by
performed an autopsy of a body exhumed from the local Orthodox cemetery; the body was in a black plastic bag without a number.
In order to identify the deceased, the forensic team cooperated with the following competent persons from the Banja Luka Public Security Centre (CJB):
The following persons were present during the autopsy:
as well as the relatives of those who disappeared from Mrkonjić Grad and the surrounding places in the second half of 1995.
The bad weather conditions (rain and snow), low temperatures, the absence of an X-ray apparatus and of other technical aids, made the work very difficult, so that the team had to adjust its activities to the weather conditions and technical capacities.
Military Police secured the facility in which the autopsy was performed.
The body was identified by a close relative named Veseljko Tadić, Bočac, Banja Luka.
A. External Findings
1. Female body, around 160 cm long, weighing around 55 kg. Well developed skeleton and muscles, well fed. Flaccidity obvious in all the muscle groups. Livor not distinctive. Skin gray-green, with dark-brown stains.
2. Hair gray, in braids, up to 180 mm long, basically missing and easily pulled out in locks. Soft face tissues in the process of putrefaction, dark-greenish, almost entirely missing. Teeth:
• 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 29, 30, 31 and 32 missing;
• 6, 8, 9, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 fell out of the alveolus.
S. No. 18/96, page 3.
Neck cylindrical, movable normally. Chest cylindrical, symmetrical. Breasts of the size of a female fist, wrinkled and in the process of putrefaction. Stomach at the level of the chest. Pubic hairs of female old age type.
3. On the back of the middle third of the right thigh, around 57 cm above the right foot plane, there is an oval wound, 15x10mm, with uneven edges and sides, blood-stained, putrefactive and turned inward, the bottom of which continues in the form of a channel directed forward, downwards and to the right through the skin, the subcutaneous tissue, muscles, right thigh bone which is at that point broken diagonally, the subcutaneous tissue and skin on the front external side of the right thigh, where around 53 cm above the right foot plane there is an oval wound, 50x40mm, with uneven edges and sides, blood-stained, putrefactive and turned outside.
4. On the external side of the upper third of the left lower leg, around 42 cm above the left foot plane, there is an oval wound, 15x10mm, with uneven edges and sides, blood-sained, putrefactive and turned inwards, the bottom of which goes, in the form of a channel directed forward, downwards and to the right, through the skin, the subcutaneous tissue, muscles, both bones of the left lower leg which are diagonally broken at that point, the subcutaneous tissue and skin on the front internal side of the upper third of the left lower leg, where around 39 cm above the left foot plane there is an oval wound, 60x40cm, with uneven edges and sides, blood-stained, putrefactive and turned outside, whose space is filled with putrid soft tissue and tiny fragments of broken bones.
5. The skin and subcutaneous tissue in the process of putrefaction, largely missing on the head and the neck, of dark- greenish colour; on the front side of the upper half of the rib cage, both shoulders, both arms, both lower legs and both feet turned into a soapy, sticky, gray-whitish mass.
6. In the genital opening and the anus no foreign substance, while the soft tissues of the nose, the mouth and both ears are putrid and almost entirely missing.
7. Apart from the described changes and injuries, there are no other obvious and significant changes and injuries on the outside of the body.
8. The body had the following clothes on: a dark-blue stout coat with a dark- blue lining, a light-blue cardigan, a dark-green long-sleeved blouse with a key attached onto it with a safety pin, a white sewn slip, a black wool skirt, a dark-blue wool waistcoat, a blue scarf with white patterns, tan and black cotton knee-length socks and dark-red socks.
No shoes.
Three keys for locks, one "elzet" key and one key without the part which goes into the lock, were found in the clothes.
The clothes are wet and soaked with water, and in the part which covers the wounds described under items 3 and 4 of the External Findings, torn and soaked with dark-red matter.
S. No. 18/96, page 4.
B. Internal Findings
a. Head
9. The tissue of scalp in the process of putrefaction, almost entirely missing. On the bones of the cranial roof and face no damage or fracture, which is why the scull was not opened nor was its contents examined.
b. Neck and Chest
10. Soft tissues of the neck and its organs in the process of putrefaction, largely missing, so that when the body was turned the head separated from it. No traces of damage or fracture were seen on cervical vertebra. In the chest cavities around 300ccm of murky, dirty, red liquid. Both lung lobes and the heart putrid and amorphous.
c. Abdomen
11. In the abdominal cavity around 300ccm of murky, dirty, red liquid. The organs in the abdomen putrid and amorphous.
d. Bones
12. The bones of the head, neck, torso and limbs examined and no fractures or damage established except for the described fracture of the right thigh and of both bones of the left lower leg.
PATHOLOGICAL AND ANATOMICAL DIAGNOSIS
Mors violenta. Homicidum. Cadaver ex terra in stadio putrefactionis progressa et saponificationis. Vulnera sclopetaria regionis femoris dextri et cruris sinistri.
TRANSLATION OF THE PATHOLOGICAL AND ANATOMICAL DIAGNOSIS
Violent death. Homicide. The body from the ground in an advanced phase of putrefaction and saponification. Penetrating injuries of the right thigh and the left lower leg.
O P I N I O N
I The body from the ground in an advanced phase of putrefaction and saponification. Therefore, the actual cause of death cannot be established with certainty on the basis of external examination alone.
However, on the basis of the autopsy findings it can be stated with great certainty that it was a violent death which occurred as a result of hemorrhage from the ruptured blood vessels, along the channels of the penetrating wounds of the right thigh and the left lower leg.
S. No. 18/96, page 5.
II The wound on the back side of the right thigh, described under item 3 of the External Findings, is an entry penetrating point inflicted by a projectile shot from a side fire arm, the bottom of which continues, in the form of a channel, through the skin, the subcutaneous tissue, muscles, the right thigh bone which is broken at that point, the subcutaneous tissue and the skin on the front external part of the lower third of the right thigh where there is the exit wound described under item 3 of the External Findings.
The direction of the wound channel is from the back forward, from above downwards and from the left to the right side.
III The wound on the external side of the upper third of the left lower leg, described under item 4 of the External Findings, is an entry penetrating point, inflicted by a projectile shot from a side fire arm, the bottom of which continues in the form of a channel through the skin, the subcutaneous tissue, the muscles, both bones of the left lower arm which are broken at that point, the subcutaneous tissue and skin on the front internal side of the upper third of the left lower leg, where there is an exit wound described under item 4 of the External Findings.
The direction of the wound channel is from the back forward, from above downwards and from the left to the right side.
IV The shooting distance could not be established on the basis of the presence of unburnt gunpowder particles on the clothes and the body, since the body was in the wet ground for several months and in an advanced phase of putrefaction.
V The putrefaction of the body is the result of the time which has elapsed from the moment of death; on certain parts of the body there is a gray-whitish soapy mass as the body was in a wet tomb for a long time.
VI Homicide is the most probable cause of death.
Autopsy performed by:
specilizing forensic medicine
S. No. 18/96, page 6.
Drawing 1 Direction of missile through the body