Committee
for Gathering Data on Crimes Committed
Against
Humanity and International Law
December 1997
GENOCIDE AGAINST SERBS
IN THE REGION OF BOSNIAN POSAVINA
(BRCKO, ORASJE, ODZAK AND BOSANSKI
BROD)
1992 and 1993
C O N T E N T S
1. INTRODUCTION
..........................................
2. WILLFUL KILLING OF CIVILIAN
POPULATION AND
CAPTURED PERSONS - MEMBERS OF THE
SERBIAN PEOPLE.......
2.1. BRCKO...........................................
2.1.1. Bosanska Bijela..........................
2.1.2. Bukovac..................................
2.1.3. Bukvik, Vujicici, Gajeva and Lukavac.....
2.1.4. Vucilovac................................
2.1.5. Cerik....................................
2.1.6. KILLING OF SERBS - PRISONERS OF WAR......
2.2. ORASJE..........................................
2.3. ODZAK...........................................
2.5. BROD (BOSANSKI
BROD)............................
3. DEPORTATION OF CIVILIAN POPULATION
OF SERBIAN NATIONALITY AND CAPTURED SERBS TO THE PRISON CAMPS AND INHUMAN
TREATMENT, TORTURE AND KILLINGS........................
3.1. INTRODUCTION....................................
3.2. Manners of Torture, Harassment and
Humiliation
of Inmates of
Serbian Nationality in the
Prison Camps in the Area of
Bosnian Posavina....
3.2.1. Methods of Torture - Body Injury of
Inmates..................................
3.2.2. Methods of Torture - Rape and Sodomy.....
3.2.3. Methods of Torture - Humiliation,
Harassmentand Intimidation
3.3. PRISON CAMPS IN THE AREA OF THE
3.3.1. Prison Camp in Rahic.....................
3.3.2. Prison Camp in the
3.3.3. Prison Camp in Zovik.....................
3.3.4. Prison Camp in Maoca.....................
3.3.5. Prison Camp in the
3.4. PRISON CAMPS IN ORASJE - DONJA
MAHALA...........
3.4.1. Torture - Body Injury Inflicted on
Inmates
and Living
Conditions in the Prison Camp.
3.4.2. Rape of the Women of Serbian
Nationality..
3.4.3. Serb Inmates Killed or Dead from Injuries
Suffered in the
Prison Camps of the
Area of Orasje.................................
3.4.4. Killed and Wounded Serb Inmates During
Digging of Trenches
in the Area of
Orasje....................................
3.5. PRISON CAMPS IN
ODZAK............................
3.5.1. Torture - Body Injury of
Inmates..........
3.5.2. Living Conditions in the Prison Camps in
Odzak:
Accommodation, Food and Hygiene....
3.5.3. Humiliation, Harassment and
Intimidation..
3.5.4. Killing of Serbian Inmates in the Prison
Camps in Odzak...................
3.6. PRISON CAMPS IN BROD (Bosanski
Brod).............
3.6.1. Torture - Body Injury of
Inmates..........
3.6.2. Humiliation, Harassment and Intimidation
of Serbian Inmates...............
3.6.3. Killing of Serb
Inmates...................
3.6.4. Rape of Women, Serbian Inmates in the
Prison Camps in Brod............
3.6.5. Serb Inmates of the Prison Camp in Brod
Taken for Digging of Trenches
at Front Battle
lines During Combat Actions........
3.6.6. Serbs Imprisoned in the Prison Camps in
Brod - Wounded
During Digging of
Trenches..
4. ETHNIC
CLEANSING........................................
4.1. INTRODUCTION.....................................
4.2. BRCKO............................................
4.3. ORASJE...........................................
4.4. ODZAK............................................
4.4.1.
Introduction..............................
4.5. BROD (Bosanski
Brod).............................
ANNEX........................................
1. INTRODUCTION
What was
particularly striking in 1992 and 1993 in the territory of the Republic of
Bosnia and Herzegovina, apart from war operations and horrors, was genocidal
activity of Croat and Muslim military and civilian authorities against the Serb
population (civilians - non-combatants, wounded and sick persons, and prisoners
of war). The present material, containing the data on genocide committed
against Serbs in the territory of Bosanska Posavina (Brčko, Orašje, Odžak
and Bosanski Brod) in 1992 and 1993, testifies to genocidal actions which
acquired mass proportions.
Voluminous
documentation based on personal and material sources of evidence indicates that
persons of Serb nationality, only because they belonged to the Serb national
group and the Orthodox faith, were in a long period of time subjected to massive,
systematic war crimes against civilian population, war crimes against wounded
and sick persons, and war crimes against prisoners of war.
It is true that the
document covers the suffering of the Serb people only in 1992 and 1993 (before
the war in the territory of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina blazed up),
in a relatively small part of the territory of Bosanska Posavina, comprising
three municipalities: Brčko, Orašje, Odžak and Bosanski Brod.
Nevertheless, it is undeniably idicative of the upsurge, scope, pace and
intensity of atrocities, torture and unhuman, cruel treatment to which Serbs
were subjected in this territory.
The entire action in
the mentioned territory was carried out under the influence, instruction and
supervision, or by order or with the knowledge of the official authorities of
the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also the Republic of Croatia (as
shown by the witness statement on the visit of the minister of foreign affairs
of the Republic of Croatia Zvonimir Šeparović to the detention camp for
Serbs in Donja Mahala near Orašje in 1992).
A large number of
examples is given of the suffering of Serbs, with accurate identification (in
all possible cases) of the perpetrators and accomplices, and the victims, which
was possible considering that in most cases the perpetrators of inhuman, brutal
crimes, were co-villagers of Muslim and Croat nationality or former residents
of this region, who had previously lived and worked together with persons of
Serb nationality. Nevertheless, it would be pretentious to say that all of the
crimes and their perpetrators have been listed. Numerous attrocities and
criminals have remained undisclosed or valid evidence is still missing.
Considering the number of identified Serb victims and those who have
disappeared under as yet unclarified circumstances, it is, unfortunately,
certain that a large number of crimes, criminals and their victims have not
been included in this report.
All crimes of
genocide covered by this document have been substantiated by evidence and can
be systematized into:
1. Willful killing of civilian
population and prisoners of war, of Serb nationality, by its legal description,
belongs to crimes of genocide and crimes against civilian population, wounded
and sick persons and prisoners of war.
In the territory of
Bosanska Posavina in 1992 and 1993, such crimes were committed:
2. Detention of civilian population
and prisoners of war, of Serb nationality, in camps established especially for
the Serbs, where they were subjected to inhuman, cruel treatment, abuse,
maltreatment, humiliation, infliction of serious bodily and mental injuries,
and finally killed in various ways and by various means.
Under the control
of Muslim and Croat forces, a large number of detention camps was formed in
Bosanska Posavina, intended for placement of civilians and prisoners of war, of
Serb nationality. As many as 35 detention camps were formed in Posavina, only
for the Serbs: eight in Bosanski Brod, nineteen in Brčko, one in Šamac,
four in Orašje and three in Odžak.
Conclusion can be
drawn that the entire Bosanska Posavina was turned into a system of detention
camps. Such camps for Serbs were formed in unsuitable rooms that had been
previously used for various purposes such as: storages, warehouses, secondary
school centers, kayak clubs, football stadiums, industrial plants, local
community centers, garages, elementary schools, sheds. The exact number of the
Serbs who underwent this system of camp torture and extermination in Posavina
during the war has not yet been established, but assumption can be made that it
is large. This is also shown by the document "The List of Detainees in the
School-Prison" in Odžak made by the Croatian Defense Council (HVO),
showing that 618 Serbs passed through this one camp in the observed period.
The Serbs,
civilians and prisoners of war, were captured massively and systematically, in
continuity and in a long period of time, taken to detention camps and kept in
unbearable living conditions. Not even the elementary requirements were met.
The prisoners slept on the concrete or other floor, were given inadequate or
irregular food, of poor quality, which mostly consisted of a slice of bread, a
cup of tea, soup or broth, with insufficient drinking water. The prisoners were
subjected to day- to-day merciless beating by different kinds of weapons and
instruments, different ways and methods of torture, whereby they were brutally
injured, tortured and humiliated, and sustained bodily and mental injuries and
torment, which often ended in murder, turning detention camps into hell on the
Earth.
The above stated is
confirmed by the data on the suffering of the Serbs - civilians and prisoners
of war, in the camps of Rahići, Ulice, Zovik, Maoča, Boče (near
Brčko) and Donja Mahala (near Orašje). Considering the number of
prisoners, the camp capacities did not provide for the minimum conditions for
survival. According to the available data, each prisoners in the detention camp
in the Odžaci Elementary School was given only 0.5m2 of space. Muslim and Croat
soldiers, assisted by the camp management, designed a system of measures and
procedures to destroy and exterminate the Serb people by various forms of
torture, maltreatment, humuliation and abuse.
The methods for
torturing the imprisoned Serbs indicate that imagination in service of hatred
against another nation is inexhaustible. Killings, infliction of serious bodily
and mental injuries and traumas, beating up all over the body, torture and
abuse, were again carried out in a planned manner, like in World War II, and
again in pursuit of the Ustashi ideology.
Furthermore, the
prisoners were taken out to forced labor, to dig trenches, build fortifications,
fill bags with sand, and do other jobs on the front line at the very time of
war operations, as a result of which many of them were killed or wounded by
missiles sent by both sides.
3. Genocide was practically manifested
through all of the above mentioned forms of operation of the Croat and Muslim
forces against the Serb population in the territory of Bosanska Posavina.
Killings, bodily injuries, detention camps for Serbs - women, children, the
elderly, men, wounded and sick persons, and prisoners of war, were not an
objective by themselves. They were all aimed at full or partial extermination
of persons of Serb nationality (ethnicity) in this territory, to be carried out
once and for all, using all possible ways and means to meet the end.
2. WILLFUL KILLING OF
CIVILIAN POPULATION AND
DETAINED PERSONS - MEMBERS OF THE SERBIAN PEOPLE
2.1. B R C K O
In the region of the
Municipality of Brcko from June 11, 1992 to December 12, 1992 Croat-Muslim
armed units executed attacks on the Serbian civilian population, killing Serbs,
plundering their property, burning down their houses, churches, desecrating
their cemeteries, taking them to the prison camps and submitting them to
torture there.
In connection with
these crimes against Serbs in the villages of Bosanska Bijela, Bukovac, Bukvik,
Vujicici, Gajevi, Vucilovac and Cerik there is concrete evidence.
2.1.1. Bosanska Bijela
Several witnesses have testified about the
situation prevailing in the village of Bosanska Bijela prior of June 11, 1992
when the attack was executed on the Serbian population, the witnesses heard
before the investigating judge of the Municipal Court in Brcko.
Witness 617/95-5
testified as follows:
"...Before this war I was living with my
family in the village of Bijela, municipality of Brcko, which was inhabited
with the inhabitants of Serbian nationality. This village is surrounded by the
Serbian villages of Cerik, Bukvik, Spionica, Srnice and others. The villages
bordering on the said villages are populated with Muslim and Croat population.
Immediately prior to the commencement of war, in the first half of 1992,
inhabitants of the Muslim and Croat villages formed their own military units so
that the Muslims had the insignia of the green berets, and the Croats insignia
of the the HVO (Croat Defense Council). Directly following their formation
these units started sending threats to the population of Serbian nationality,
threatening that they will all be killed and expelled. They began placing
barricades and preventing the movement of the Serbian population, and in early
June of that same year from time to time they would erupt into some of the
villages...".
Witness 617/95-1
stated, inter alia, the following:
"...Immediately before the commencement
of war, in the first half of 1992, although we, the inhabitants of Serbian
nationality, had earlier good relations with our neighbors Croats, these
relations started to deteriorate. This was felt first when a neighbor, a Croat,
would be marrying his son or daughter, and they started avoiding to invite to
the festivities us Serbs. They would explain the fact of not inviting Serbs by
saying that their priest was instructing them not to invite Serbs either for
festivities or for funerals...".
On June 11, 1992 an attack was carried out on
the Serbian population, on which occasion the following Serbs were killed:
1) SEKULIC (of father Jakov) MILAN,
born in 1958 (witnesses: 617/95-1, 617/95-5, 6636/95-1,2 and 3).
2) SEKULIC (of father Lazar) MARA,
born in 1925 (witnesses: 617/95-1, 617/95-5, 636/95-1 and 2)
3) LUKIC (of father Stevo) DUSAN,
(witnesses: 617/95-1, 636/95-1,2 and 3)
4) JOVANKA, born in 1932
(witnesses: 617/95-5, 636/95-1 and 2)
5) LUKIC VESELIN, born in 1938
(witnesses: 617/95-5, 636/95-1,2 and 3)
PERPETRATORS of the said crime are the
following persons:
1) DJORDJIC ZVONIMIR,
"Djone" (witnesses: 617/95-1, 636/95-1 and 3);
2) LASTRIC MARJAN, commander of the
unit in the 108th Brigade (witnesses: 617/95-1, 636/95-1 and 2);
3) ANDJIC FILIP, "Irac"
(witnesses: 617/95-1, 636/95-1);
4) STJEPANOVIC IVO, "Peles"
(witnesses: 617/95-1, 617/95-5 and 636/95-1);
5) MENDES DRAGAN (witnesses: 617/95-1
and 636/95-1);
6) MENDES FRANJO (witness: 617/95-1);
7) CANCAREVIC GRGA, "Tahir"
(witnesses: 617/95-1 and 636/95-1);
8) DJORDJIC PETAR (witnesses: 617/95-1
and 636/95-1);
9) DJORDJIC ANDRIJA (witnesses:
617/95-1 and 636/95-1);
10) DJORDJIC IVO, "Supetalo"
(witnesses: 617/95-1 and 636/95-1);
11) FILIPOVIC STJEPAN, former employee of
the Public Safety Station in Brcko (witnesses: 636/95-1 and 2);
12) JURKOVIC IGNJACIJE, former employee
of the Public Safety Station in Brcko (witnesses: 636/95-1 and 2);
13) MENDES (of father Franjo) MATIJA
(witness: 636/95-2);
14) CANCAREVIC ANDRIJA (witness;
636/95-2);
15) CANDAREVIC (of father Andrija) FRANJO
(witness: 636/95-2);
16) GELJIC FRANJO, "Irac"
(witness: 636/95-2);
17) JURKOVIC (of father Savo) IVO
(witness: 636/95-3), and
18) LUKIC (of father Ivo) MATO (witness:
636/95-3).
During the said
attack the following persons were wounded:
1) MICIC ALEKSA (witness:
636/95-2);
2) LUKIC DOBRIVOJE (witness:
636/95-2), and
3) STEVIC MAKSO (witness:
636/95-2)
EVIDENCE: witnesses 617/95-1, 617/95-5, 636/95-1, 636/95-2 and
636/95-3.
The Municipal Public Prosecutor of Brcko
filed with the Municipal Court of Brcko the Indictment Kt.No. 69/93 of July 15,
1994 in connection with the stated crimes and for the criminal acts of the war
crime against civilian population from Article 142, para. 1 of the Penal Code
of the Republic of Srpska - General Part.
2.1.2. Bukovac
Croat-Muslim military units attacked Serbian
population in the village of Bukovac on September 11, 1992.
Several witnesses testified regarding this
situation - and the atmosphere which existed in the said village prior to
September 11, 1992 and also on the geographic location of the village of
Bukovac.
Thus, for example,
the witness 617/95-32, states as follows:
"...The village of Bukovac and another
six villages belonging to the local community of Bukvik were populated
exclusively with the Serbian population. Villages surrounding this area of the
local community of Bukvik on the one side were populated with the Muslim
population, and on the other side with the Croat population. Early in 1992 in
the Muslim and the Croat villages military units were formed which immediately
upon their formation started with sending threats to the inhabitants of the
Serbian villages claiming that they shall all be killed or expelled from that
area. So formed military units were placing barricades around Serbian villages
and in that way making impossible exit of Serbs from and entrance to these
villages. They were holding the Serbian villages under blockade for some six
months, in order to start the attack on September 11, 1992. First they raided
the village of Bukovac. Before erupting into the village, Croat and Muslim
units opened a strong fire and during the entrance started setting fire on
Serbian houses and killing Serbs who were in their homes. Serbian population
escaped to the woods and was hiding there from the Muslim army...".
During the attack on the village of Bukovac
on September 11 and 12, 1992 the following Serbs - civilians were killed:
1) VUJIC MITAR, born in 1945
(witnesses: 617/95-4, 638/95-);
2) PEJIC MARKO, born in 1931
(witnesses: 617/95-4 and 638/95-7);
3) PEJIC CVIJETA, born in 1938
(witnesses: 617/95-4 and 638/95-7);
4) MILOSEVIC (of father Bogoljub)
PETAR, born in 1958 (witnesses: 617/95-19 , 640/95-1 and 4);
5) TANASIC (of father Jovo) NOVAK,
born in 1957 (witnesses: 617/95-19, 640/95-1 and 4);
6) RADIC GOJKO, born in 1957
(witness: 617/95-32);
7) RADIC CVIJETIN, born in 1963
(witness: 617/95-32);
8) BAJIC RISTO, born in 1942
(witnesses: 617/95-34, 640/95-1, 2 and 3);
9) BAJIC ZIVAN, born in 1963
(witnesses: 617/95-34, 640/95-1,2 and 3);
10) BAJIC ILIJA, born in 1938
(witnesses: 634/95-3 and 5, 640/95-1 and 2);
11) PISTALOVIC NIKOLA, born in
1927 (witnesses: 640/95-1 and 2);
12) PEKIC JOVAN, born in 1954
(witnesses: 64/95-1 and 2) and
13) SUBOTIC STEVO, born in 1938
(witnesses: 640/95-1 and 2).
In this case testimony of the witness
617/95-32 is especially outstanding in connection with the killing of his sons
Radic Gojko and Radic Cvijetin and of the witness 617/95-34 in connection with
the killing of her husband Bajic Risto and her son Bajic Zivan.
Thus, the witness 617/95-32 before the
investigating judge of the Municipal Court of Brcko on July 26, 1995, inter alia,
states the following:
"...We were hiding in the woods, myself
and my now deceased sons, the older one Gojko born on March 15, 1957 in Bukovac
of father Janko and the younger one Cvijetin born on July 23, 1963. Gojko was
wounded in the left arm. We had spent the night in the woods, and on the next
day together with the rest of the population, while hiding, we went to Gornji
Bukvik. We have spent two days in that area... When the Croat or Muslim
soldiers found us in the woods in Bukvik, in my presence they called out from
the group my sons Gojko and Cvijetin, and shot the round of gun fire into them.
They took Cvijetin from me because I was holding him under the arm, and then
they shot him. I begged and pleaded with them not to do that, but nothing
helped. Their bodies remained in that forest and until now I do not know
whether someone buried them or not. ..,".
Witness 617/95-34 before the investigating
judge of the Municipal Court of Brcko on July 26, 1995, inter alia, stated the
following:
"...They killed my husband Risto Bajic
born on June 26, 1942 in Bukovac, of father Milos and mother Stana, maiden
Djuric, on the threshold of our new house. They also killed my son Zivan
Bajic born on November 13, 1963 in that same place, because they remained at
home...".
About the killing of Bajic Risto and Bajic
Zivan the witness 640/95-3 before the investigating judge of the Municipal
Court of Brcko on February 2, 1994 states the following:
"...They were taking me some place and
then I saw that we were passing by the house of Risto and Zivan Bajic. I saw
them both coming out of their house with hand in the air, without any weapons,
but one of the soldiers opened fire and killed them both...".
Witness 640/95-1 while testifying about the
attack of the Muslim-Croat forces on Bukovac on September 11, 1992 emphasizes
the following:
"...We were attacked by the Muslim-Croat
forces and I was then with another seven of my neighbors in the hamlet of
Vasiljevici. I remember that we were attacked by our, until that day,
neighbors from the village of Ulovici, because I personally recognized Dzinic
Blazo called "Bajica", Jurkovic Stjepan called "Pepa, Simic
Jozo, Radosevic Zdravko called "Kjesa", Dzinic Zdravko, Filipovic
Niko, Martinovic Luka, Miskovic Zvonko, Miskovic Mirko, Djukic Niko and Simic
Zarko. They executed the attack from the direction of the railway station
while the Muslims attacked us from the direction of Zinic brook...".
EVIDENCE: in connection with the attack on Bukovac, killing of
Serbian population and plunder and setting on fire of Serbian houses -
witnesses: 671/95-2, 617/95-3, 617/95-19, 617/95-32, 617/95-34, 634/95-3,
634/95-5, 617/95-4 and 638/95-7, 638/95-11, 640/95-1, 640/95-2, 640/95-3,
640/95-4.
In connection with the attacks on Serbian
population in Bukovac on September 11, 1992 and the crimes committed against
Serbian population, the Municipal Public Prosecutor of Brcko filed an
Indictment under number Kt. 68/93 of June 9, 1994 with the Municipal Court of
Brcko, against several persons for criminal acts of the war crime against
civilian population from Article 142, para. 1 applied from the Penal Code of
the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
2.1.3. Bukvik, Vujicici, Gajeva and Lukavac
On September 14, 1992, therefore, only three
days after the attack on the village of Bosanska Bijela, the armed Croat and
Muslim units executed the attack on the villages of Gornji and Donji Bukvik,
Vujicici, Gajeva and Lukavac. During that attack they killed a large number of
civilians of Serbian nationality. They were the villages in which Serbian
population was living, and in this case, as in the previous case of Bosanska
Bijela, and as they are to proceed later on in the other places, they were
plundering -taking away the property of Serbs, setting their houses on fire,
burning down the Serbian Orthodox churches, desecrating the cemeteries of
Serbs. One number of Serbs were taken to the prison camps in the village of
Rahic - communal house and the prison camp in the school, in Zovik - premises
of the storage of building material, and in Ulice - in the premises of the
primary school. In these prison camps Serbs were tortured, which shall be
discussed later in this report. The crimes committed in this area by the
members of the Muslim-Croat military units are confirmed by a large number of
eye-witnesses, Serbs, inhabitants of the said villages.
During the attack executed on September 14,
1992 the following persons of Serbian nationality were killed:
1) PEJIC BLAGOJE, born in 1912
(witness: 617/95-4);
2) TODOROVIC MARKO, born in
1932 (witnesses: 617/95-4, 14, 679/95-5, 33, 638/95-7).
3) LUKIC NEDELJKO, born in 1940
(witnesses: 617/95-4, 14, 679/95-5, 33, 638/95-2 and 638/95-7);
4) DJURIC VASO, born in 1940
(witnesses: 617/95-4, 14, 679/95-5, 638/95-2);
5) DJURIC SLADJAN, (witnesses:
617/95-4, 679/95-);
6) PEJIC (of father Tanasije) CVIJETIN,
born in 1957 (witness: 617/95-6);
7) RISTIC (of father Zarije) MIRKO,
born in 1957 (witness: 617/95-6, with the remark that the father of the killed
Ristic Mirko is testifying before court that his son Ristic Mirko and Pejic
Cvijetin were killed in Gornji Bukvik on September 11, 1992 when the raid on
the village was made and at the same time several houses were set on fire);
8) SEKULIC SPASOJE, born in
1955 (witnesses: 617/95-10, 11, 634/95-4, 6 and 8);
9) TANIC GAVRO, born in 1922
(witness: 617/95-14);
10) PURIC (of father Avram) VLAJKO,
(witnesses: 617/95-19, 25, 26, 679/95-9, 634/95-4, 638/95-12);
11) RADIC ZIVAN, born in 1966
(witnesses: 617/95-19, 25, 26, 679/95-9, 634/95-4, 638/95-12 and 640/95-1);
12) RADIC CVIJETIN, born in 1963
(witness: 617/95-19);
13) BRESTOVACKI MILKA, born in
1943 (witnesses: 617/95-22, 634/95-1, 4, 6 and 8, 538/95-2 and 12, 679/95-8);
14) BRESTOVACKI RADOJKA, born in
1933 (witnesses: 617/95-22, 4, 6 and 8, 638/95-2 and 12, and 679/95-8);
15) VESELINOVIC SAVO, born in 1939
(witnesses: 617/95-25, 26, 33, 634/95-12, 679/95-9);
16) VIDOVIC DJOKO, born in 1922
(witnesses: 634/95-8, 638/95-2, 679/95-8);
17) KAURINOVIC ILIJA, called
"Farkas", born in 1918 (witnesses: 634/95-4, 6 and 8);
18) JOVIC DANILO - Danko, born in
1960 (witnesses: 634/95-4, 6 and 8);
19) KAURINOVIC (of father Savo) TRIVO,
born in 1963 (witnesses: 634/95-4, 6, 8);
20) PASIC (of father Gavro) GLIGOR,
born in 1930 (witnesses: 634/95-4, 6, 638/95-2);
21) PASIC (of father Niko) CVIJETIN,
born in 1954 (witnesses: 634/95-4, 6, 8);
22) TANASKOVIC JOVAN, born in 1912
(witnesses: 634/95-4, 638/95-2);
23) TANASKOVIC SAVO, born in 1912
(witness: 634/95-4);
24) MARICIC (of father Savo) JANKO,
born in 1930 (witnesses: 634/95-4 and 6);
25) BAJIC RADOJKA, born in 1948
(witness: 634/95-4);
26) VESELINOVIC PERO, born in 1974
(witness: 634/95-4);
27) KEREZOVIC DJORDJE, born in
1932 (witnesses: 634/95-5, 638/95-2);
28) KEREZOVIC CVIJETA, born in
1932 (witnesses: 634/95-5, 638/95-2);
29) DJURIC MILO, born in 1914
(witnesses: 634/95-8, 638/95-2);
30) MIJATOVIC (of father Mitar) JOVAN,
born in 1953 (witnesses: 638/95-1, 638/95-2);
31) VUJIC VASO, born in 1924
(witness: 638/95-2);
32) PODIJEVIC STEVO, born in 1921
(witness: 638/95-2);
33) PEJIC ILIJA, born in 1974
(witness: 638/95-7), and
39) BLAGOJEVIC
MITAR, born in 1942 (witness: 638/95-7).
On the basis of the gathered evidence it is
established that in the above stated attacks and/or killing of persons of
Serbian nationality, the following persons took part and committed the crimes:
1) LUBINOVIC SEFKET (witnesses:
617/95-10 and 11, 634/95-8);
2) DJAKIC MENSUR (witnesses:
679/95-30, 634/95-8 and 9 - for whom it is stated that he was the leader of the
Muslim army unit which attacked Bukvik);
3) DZINIC BLAZA, "Bajica",
from Ulovici (witness; 634/95-8);
4) BOSANKIC PETAR, from Vitanovici
(witness: 634/95-8);
5) JAKIC LUKA, former policeman from
Brcko (witness: 634/95-8);
6) CARAPIC VJEKOSLAV, from Ulice
(witness: 634/95-8);
7) SARAJCIC NURIJA, from Brka
(witness: 634/95-8);
8) HADZIC (of father Huso) SINAN, from
Ulovici (witness: 634/95-8);
9) HADZIC (of father Mustafa) SADO,
from Ulovici (witness: 634/95-8);
10) KALIC NIJAZ (witness: 634/95-8);
11) SULJIC DAMIR, "Matija"
(witness: 634/95-8), and
12) HASANOVIC MELVUDIN (witness:
634/95-9).
The witness 634/95-8 before the investigating
judge of the Municipal Court of Brcko on December 12, 1993, inter alia, stated
the following:
"...I have personally on September 14
and 15, 1992 recognized persons who were burning down houses and killing
people, and they are...", then he stated the names of perpetrators of the
crimes, from number 1 to 11.
The witness 634/95-9 stated, inter alia,
before the investigating judge of the Municipal Court of Brcko in the minutes
of his testimony taken on January 20, 1994, the following:
"...The attack was under the command of
Mensur Djakic whom I have seen on that day. I have also seen Melvudin
Hasanovic. I was seeing them kill everything that could be killed... I saw them
when they killed a blind young man who was never leaving his home, I saw them
killing old men. None of the victims were members of the territorial defense.
After the killing, they would plunder and set houses on fire. We surrendered
the next day and, together with the others, I was taken to the prison camp of
Gornji Rahic...".
How ruthless were the attackers on the said
villages in committing their crimes is testified in an emotional way by the
witnesses 617/95-10 and 617/95-11, mother and sister of the victim Sekulic
Spasoje.
Thus, the witness 617/95-10 before the
investigating judge of the Municipal Court of Brcko on July 20, 1995, states
the following:
"...My deceased brother Spasoje, born
on June 28, 1954 had a spine disorder and was bed-ridden. He could walk
only by the aid of crutches and for short distances. Muslim soldiers found the
place where we were hiding on September 15, 1992, at a brook close to our
house. I know that they were Muslim soldiers because they were wearing green
bands. When they found us they started swearing at our Chetnik mother, calling
my deceased brother a Chetnik. They took us towards the center of the village
of Bukvik and one Muslim soldier came to us, later we learnt that his name is
Semso Ljubina (it is actually Lubinovic Sefket), but we did not know that
soldier. That soldier was masked, his face was covered with some kind of
paint, he singled out my brother saying that he is a Chetnik, and then fired
two rounds of ammunition into his chest. My mother Netka and myself begged the
soldier not to do that but it did not help. His body remained on the road.
Whether he was buried or not I do not know even now because Bukvik is under the
control of the Croat and Muslim authorities..."
Witness 617/95-11 before the investigating
judge of the Municipal Court of Brcko on July 21, 1995, inter alia, states the
following:
"... The majority of Serbian population
abandoned their houses and escaped into the woods, and so did I with my
daughter and a sick son Spasoje who was bed-ridden because of a spine injury.
He could walk only on crutches and for a short distance. We were hiding in the woods
until September 15, 1992. At some 10:00 hours we were discovered by the Muslim
army and they ordered us to move. During the movement to the center of the
village, one Muslim soldier who had a green band and his face covered so that
no one could recognize him, singled out my deceased son Spasoje from the
column and when he turned his weapons towards him, myself and my daughter
started to beg that soldier and to scream. However, nothing helped. He fired
two rounds of ammunition into Spasoje and ordered us to move towards the
center..."
On the basis of testimonies by several
eye-witnesses it is established that also Puric Vlajko, Radic Zivan and
Veselinovic Sava were ruthlessly killed, having several days previously been
wounded.
Witness 617/95-26, mother of the victim
Radic Zivan stated before the investigating judge of the Municipal Court of
Brcko on July 25, 1995, the following:
"... My son Zivan was wounded in the
manner that a bullet entered his mouth from the right side and exited at the
top of his head. As far as I could see it was an explosive bullet so the
wound was large but he was alive... I saw that Vlajko Puric was wounded in the
left shoulder, and Savo Veselinovic was wounded in the leg, I do not know
exactly where. While I was tending my son and the other wounded, Muslim
soldiers arrived and one of them pointed the gun of the weapon at me at my back
and ordered the others to shoot the wounded. He literally said "kill the
wounded", and in my presence they fired the rounds of ammunition in the chest
of Zivan and the other two wounded. Then they pushed me in the direction of the
center of the villages..."
Witness 679/95-9 before the investigating
judge of the Municipal Court of Brcko on August 17, 1995 states the following:
"... On September 14, 1992 Croat and
Muslim soldiers, after opening fire on Serbian villages, erupted into these
villages and started setting Serbian houses on fire and killing Serbian
population...On that day some 59 inhabitants of Serbian nationality were killed
from the said villages in the area of the local community of Bukvik. Ruthlessly
were being killed aged and women, and among them three wounded persons: Savo
Veselinovic, Vlajko Puric and Zivan Radic, who were close to the house of Cedo
Pajic... This fact is known to all the former inhabitants of the village of G.
Bukvik..."
Witness 679/95-8 testified before the
investigating judge of the Municipal Court of Brcko on August 17, 1995, inter
alia, about the killing of Brestovacki Milka and Brestovacki Radojka.
"... I have personally seen, hidden in
the woods, when the Muslim and Croat soldiers took out Milka and Radojka
Brestovacki on the road and when they fired shots at them. I have also seen
when they took out an older man Djoko Vidovic from D. Bukvik and when they shot
and killed him..."
Witness 638/95-12 before the investigating
judge of the Municipal Court of Brcko on February 15, 1994 also testified about
the killing of Brestovacki Milka and Brestovacki Radojka:
"...While I was withdrawing I personally
heard Brestovacki Milka, who was at the orders of the enemy soldier, while
crying, calling her husband Marko. After that, this soldier killed her on the
road. A bit later he also killed Brestovacki Radojka. Both of them were
civilians and had no weapons what so ever with them..."
Municipal Public Prosecution of Brcko filed
under number Kt. 72/93 of July 25, 1994 an Indictment against several persons
for the criminal acts of war crimes against civilian population from Article
42, para. 1 taken from the Penal Code of the SFRY, in connection with the said
crimes committed in mid September 1992 in the region of the Serbian villages of
Vitanovici, Bukvik Gornji and Bukvik Donji in the municipality of Brcko.
Furthermore, Municipal Public Prosecution of
Brcko of the Republic of Srpska filed under number Kt. 77/93 of July 16, 1994
an Indictment against several persons, Muslims and Croats, for the crimes
committed on September 11, 1992 in the Serbian villages of Vujicici, Gajevi and
Lukavac - for the criminal acts of war crimes against civilian population from
Article 142 para. 1 of the Penal Code of the Republic of Srpska - General Part.
EVIDENCE: witnesses; 617/95-2, 617/95-3, 617/95-4, 617/95-6,
617/95-7, 617/95-8, 617/95-9, 617/95-10, 617/95-11, 617/95-12, 617/95-13,
617/95-14, 617/95-15, 617/95-16, 617/95-19, 617/95-22, 617/95-25, 617/95-26,
617/95-27, 617/95-31, 617/95-33, 617/95-40, 679/95-5, 679/95-8, 679/95-14,
679/95-30, 679/95-33, 634/95-4, 638/95-1, 638/95-2, 638/95-6, 638/95-7,
638/95-8, 638/95-9, 638/95-10, 638/95-12 and 640/95-4.
2.1.4. Vucilovac
On December 12, 1992 Croat army from the
adjacent villages entered the village of Vucilovac - municipality of Brcko and
just like in the above stated villages, started killing civilian population,
plundering property of the Serbian population and setting houses on fire in
which Serbs were living.
Witness 617/95-21 before the investigating
judge of the Municipal Court of Brcko on July 24, 1995 stated the following:
"... In the first half of 1992 when the
war started, from the Croat villages threats were being sent to the Serbian
population in the villages of Vucilovac and Kopanice, saying that all the Serbs
from this area will be expelled or killed. Some time in July or September the
same year Serbian population from the village of Kopanice was expelled and in
November and the first half of December Croat army expelled all Serbs from
Vucilovac. During their entry into the village of Vucilovac Croat army killed
all the inhabitants who did not leave their houses and killed them in their own
homes, on the spot..."
During the attack of the armed Croats on
Vucilovac the following persons of Serbian nationality were killed:
1) MAJSTOROVIC PANTO, born in
1944 (witnesses: 617/95-23, 24, 37, 679/95-1, 12);
2) MAJSTOROVIC MILENKO, born in
1971 (witnesses: 617/95-23, 24, 37, 679/95-1, 10, 11, 12, 220;
3) MAJSTOROVIC ILIJA, born in
1937 (witnesses: 617/95-23, 24, 679/95-1, 11);
4) MARGETIC MARINKO, born in
1942 (witnesses: 617/95-23, 37, 679/95-2, 3, 4, 10, 11, 12);
5) IGNJIC OLJA, born in 1939, a
Croat woman married to a Serb (witnesses: 679/95-1, 6);
6) NIKOLIC RUZA, born in 1926
(witnesses: 617/95-24, 679/95-1,2,3,10 and 12);
7) LUKIC (of father Mika) NETKA,
born in 1928 (witnesses: 617/95-24, 679/95-1);
8) MARGETIC (of father Lazar) MILAN,
born in 1963 (witnesses: 679/95-1 and 679/95-4);
9) KITIC (of father Nikola) PERO,
born in 1953 (witness: 679/95-1);
10) LUKIC (of father Nikola) MICO,
born in 1946 (witness: 679/95-1);
11) MITROVIC SVETISLAV, born in
1968 (witnesses: 679/95-1 and 679/95-7);
12) PETROVIC (of father Bozo) BOZO,
born in 1952 (witness: 679/95-1);
13) MISIC (of father Marko) JOCO,
born in 1973 (witnesses: 679/95-1, 39);
14) OSTOJIC (of father Risto) LAZO,
born in 1946 (witnesses: 679/95-1, 16);
15) LUKIC (of father Petar) RATKO,
born in 1944 (witness: 679/95-1);
16) NIKIC (of father Stanisa) SLADJAN,
born in 1967 (witness: 679/95-1);
17) ARSENIC (of father Niko) KRSTO,
born in 1906 (witnesses: 679/95-7 and 15).
Regarding the perpetrators of the above
stated crimes, the surviving eye-witnesses of Serbian nationality, mostly did
not know the perpetrators of these crimes. They were explaining in detail that
the attack was carried out by the Croat army from the adjacent villages. They
were all in agreement in this respect and the witness 679/95-42 stated before
the investigating judge of the Municipal Court of Brcko on August 25, 1995 the
following:
"...Croats in their villages had formed
the military units bearing the HVO (Croat Defense Council) insignia and started
sending threats to the population of Vucilovac saying that all Serbs will be
expelled and killed... Such a situation lasted until December 12, 1992 when
Croat soldiers entered the village of Vucilovac from the adjacent villages and
started setting on fire Serbian houses and killing Serbian population...As far
as I know Ivo Vincentic called "Konj" ("Horse") took
part in the attack and was especially outstanding in killing and massacring of
Serbs present in Vucilovac..."
EVIDENCE: Witnesses: 617/95-21, 617/95-23, 617/95-24, 679/95-1,
679/95-2, 679/95-3, 679/95-4, 679/95-6, 679/95-7, 679/95-10, 679/95-11,
679/95-12, 679/95-15, 679/95-16, 679/95-22, 679/95-28, 679/95-39 and 679/95-42.
2.1.5. Cerik
On June 11, 1992 and later on August 28, 1992
Muslim and Croat units made an attack on the village of Cerik and members of
Serbian nationality, on their lives and their property.
Witness 636/95-5 stated before the
investigating judge of the Municipal Court of Brcko on December 28, 1993 the
following:
"...On June 17, 1992 in the morning, at
some 06:00 hours, we were attacked by our until yesterday neighbors, Muslims
and Croats, and during the attack Simic Simo 80 years old was killed, killed in
his own front-yard, also Markovic (of father Ilija) Jovo some 20 years old was
slaughtered and Andric (of father Mihailo) Spasoje, 31 years old. The attackers
set fire on eight houses. We organized ourselves and rejected the enemy attack.
The second attack took place on August 28, 1992 at some 17:00 hours. There was
a lot of refugees in the village from Bijela, Spionica, Srbnica and other
Serbian villages which were occupied. We were attacked by our neighbors from
Dubrava and Bijela, and they had heavy artillery. We learnt that the entire
action was planned by the Bijeljina Headquarters and that it was the 108th
Brcanska Brigade of the HVO (Croat Defense Council). On that occasion a large
number of civilians was killed and the village of Cerik practically whipped out
from the face of the earth. Households were pillaged and then the houses and
all other premises set on fire..."
During the attack on June 17, 1992 the
following civilians of Serbian nationality were killed:
1) SIMIC SIMO, born in 1924
(witnesses: 636/95-5,6);
2) MARKOVIC (of father Ilija) JOVO,
born in 19664, who was slaughtered (witnesses; 636/95-5, 6), and
3) ANDRIC (of father Mihailo)
SPASOJE, born in 1962 (witnesses: 636/95-5, 6).
During the attack on Cerik on August 28, 1992
the following Serbs were killed:
1) DZOMBIC (of father Vojin) PETAR,
born in 1942 (witness: 636/95-5);
2) ZARIC (of father Mivo) ZARKO,
born in 1919 (witness: 636/95-5);
3) ILIC (of father Jovo) LAZO,
born in 1933 (witness: 636/95-5);
4) DRAGICEVIC MILUTIN, born in
1925 (witness: 636/95-5);
5) JOVANOVIC RISTO, born in
1926 (witness: 636/95-5 and the minutes on identification of May 27, 1995 -
144/95-3);
6) BRKOVIC MITRA, born in 1937
(witness: 636/95-5);
7) BRKOVIC (of father Radovan)
MILENA, born in 1975 (witness: 636/95-5);
8) MILICEVIC (of father Miko) ACO,
born in 1958 (witness: 636/95-5);
9) SEKULIC (of father Savo)
MILIVOJE, born in 1940 (witness: 636/95-5 and minutes on identification of
May 27, 1995 - 144/95-3);
10) MIJATOVIC DANKO, born in 1939
(witness: 636/95-5 and minutes on identification of May 27, 1995 - 144/95-3),
and
11) MICANOVIC OSTOJA, born in 1939
(witness: 636/95-5 and minutes on identification of May 27, 1995 - 144/95-3).
Witness 636/95-5
stated the following:
"...These people for whom I said that
they were killed, I have personally seen killed and I was burying them..."
Witness 636/95-6 and 144/95-3 stated that,
further to the others, perpetrators of the crimes in the above stated events
were the following persons:
1) FILIPOVIC STJEPAN
2) JURKOVIC IGNJACIJE
3) CANCAREVIC ANDRIJA
4) BOZIC NIKO
5) MENDES MATE
6) MISKOVIC IVO
7) LASTRIC MARJAN
8) VESELCIC JURE
9) LEMESIC MARJAN
10) DEJANOVIC FILIP
11) GELJIC PILJO
12) CANCAREVIC FRANJO
13) CACES LUKA
14) ANTIC MATE
15) JURKOVIC ANDJELKO
16) HRGOVCIC TOMISLAV
17) JURIC IVO
18) JURIC LUKA
19) HRGOVCIC ZLATKO
20) PETROVIC DRAZEN
21) PETROVIC MLADEN
22) TOMIC MISO
23) DJORDIC ZVONIMIR
24) CANCAREVIC GRGA, and
25) GLUHAKOVIC FILIP
Against the above stated persons and some
other persons Municipal Public Prosecution of Brcko filed the Indictment under
number Kt. 67/93 of July 25, 1993 for criminal acts of war crimes against
civilian population from Article 142 para. 1 taken over from the Penal Code of
the SFRY.
EVIDENCE: Witnesses: 636/95-5, 144/95-3, 636/95-6 and 144/95-3.
2.1.6. KILLING OF SERBS - PRISONERS OF WAR
On April 8, 1993 the 108th Brigade
of the so-called Army of Bosnia-Herzegovina under the command of Pljakic
Ramiz carried out the attack on the village of Biliste - municipality of
Brcko and on that occasion captured a number of members of the Republic of
Srpska Army, who were exposed to torture and were then all killed.
On May 7, 1993 at the checkpoint in Dubravice
Republic of Srpska Army took over the earthly remains of the four fighters -
members of the Republic of Srpska Army: Pudic (of father Djoko) Stojan, Jovicic
(of father Ranko) Perica, Padezanin Zeljko and Marjanovic Radovan.
The first two persons named above were
captured after the event of March 8, 1993, and Padezanin Zeljko and Marjanovic
Radovan after the attack which was carried out on April 27, 1993 on the village
of Lipovac, also by the 108th Brigade of the so-called Army of
Bosnia-Herzegovina.
From the autopsy records made at the
Institute for Pathology and Forensic Medicine of the Military Medical Academy
hospital, describing the autopsy made on May 7, 1993 in Brcko under number
BC-S-11 and BC-S-12, the following findings are made:
On the basis of the autopsy made on Budic
Stojan, born in 1953 in the village of Grabovica, municipality of Brcko, and on
the basis of the finds, the opinion is given which states, inter alia, the
following facts:
I - The corpse is in the advance state of
decay and the autopsy alone can not show the real cause of death with any
certainty. However, bearing in mind the autopsy results, it can be determined
with a high degree of certainty that the death was violent and that it took
place because of decapitation.
II - Decapitation was performed most probably
in two parts: in the first part cutting off of the soft tissue of the neck was
done with a blow of a sharp blade of a mechanical weapon, and in the second
part cutting off of the fourth neck vertebra was done with the blow of a sharp
blade of a heavy mechanical weapon.
XII - Pudic Stojan most probably first
suffered the injuries from fire arms in the lower extremities with the entrance
holes on the exterior side of the right knee, exterior side of the right
buttock, interior side of the left buttock and the front exterior side of the
left buttock, described under items 4, 5, 6 and 7 of the exterior find, and
then, while he was flat on his back and alive, his head was cut off by another
person.
XIV - Death was of
an assassination origin.
Together with the above stated autopsy report
BC-S-11 of May 7, 1993, photo-documents are also enclosed.
On the basis of the autopsy report of the
autopsy performed on the deceased Jovicic Perica, born in 1972 in the village
of Grbavica - Brcko, the findings are, inter alia, the following:
On the basis of the exterior find, interior
find, pathological and anatomy diagnosis, the opinion states, among others, the
following:
I - The corpse was in the advanced stage of
decay, and the autopsy alone can not determine with certainty the cause of
death. However, bearing in mind the autopsy report, it may be determined with a
high degree of probability that the death was from violent causes and that it
was caused by decapitation.
II - Decapitation was performed most probably
in two parts: in the first part cutting off was done of the soft neck tissue
with the blade of a mechanical weapon on a swing, and in the other part it was
performed by cutting off the third neck vertebra with the blade of a heavy
mechanical weapon on a swing.
III - Injuries in the part of the left side
of the face, described in item 4, of the exterior find, represent a cutting and
pressing wound caused by the blunt heavy and swung mechanical object, with the
simultaneous double fracture of the left part of the lower mandibular bone,
described in item 2 of the exterior find.
IV - Injury above the left nipple described
in item 6 of the exterior find, is an entrance opening of the bullet cased by a
projectile of a fired hand weapon, most probably from some distance, and its
bottom in the form of a channel continues through the skin, subcutaneous
tissue, IV and V rib on the left side, upper part of the left lung and muscles,
III inter-rib area on the left side, where a deformed metal projectile was
found corresponding to the 7.65 mm pistol ammunition. The direction of the
wound channel is: forward and back, from down upwards, from the right to the
left.
V - Most probably the first injury to be
inflicted on Jovicic Perica was cutting and pressing wound described in item 5
of the exterior find, with double fracture of the left lower mandibular bone,
and then, while he was on his back and alive he was decapitated by another
person.
VI - The injury from fire arms described in
item 6 of the exterior find was inflicted most probably after the death, i.e.
after decapitation.
VII - Death is of
assassination origin.
Together with this autopsy report
photo-documents taken during the autopsy are enclosed.
EVIDENCE: 144/95-9, autopsy reports made at the Institute for
Pathology and Forensic Medicine of the Military Medical Academy hospital of May 7, 1993 under number BC-S-11
and BC-S-12.
The above stated facts show that the
perpetrators of the assassination of the prisoners of war Budic Stojan and
Jovicic Perica committed war crimes against the prisoners of war, which as
above stated, were sanctioned according to the provisions of the Penal Code of
the former Yugoslavia, in accordance with the Geneva Convention on Prisoners of
War of 1949 ratified by the state of the Federal People’s Republic of
Yugoslavia in 1950.
2.2. ORASJE
On May 9 1992 in
Bukova Greda in the municipality of Orasje members of the military police of
the 106th Oraska brigade, under the command of Pero Vincetic called
"Konj" ("Horse") carried out a raid on Serbs on which
occasion the following Serbs were killed:
1) VASILJEVIC LAZAR, of father
Arsenije, born in 1961;
2) GAVRIC MICO, born in 1939 in
Bukova Greda - Orasje;
3) GAVRIC MISO, of father Pero,
born in 1974 in Bukova Greda - Orasje;
4) MAKSIMOVIC ZORAN, of father
Pero, born in 1969 in Bukova Greda - Orasje;
5) MAKSIMOVIC ZARKO, of father
Jovo, born in 1952 in Bukova Greda - Orasje;
6) SVIJANOVIC DRAGO, of father
Pero, born in 1963 in Bukova Greda - Orasje;
7) MAKSIMOVIC MARKO, of father
Jovan, born in 1937 in Bukova Greda - Orasje.
EVIDENCE: Witnesses: 267/94-1, 267/94-6, 267/94-8, 267/94-14
and 396/95-6 and 637/95-3, 396/95-5, 679/95-23, 679/95-24, 679/95-27,
679/95-32, 679/95-35, 679/95-37 and the minutes on identification compiled at
the Municipal Court of Brcko on June 24, 1994 (144/95-12).
2.3. ODZAK
2.3.1. On April 19, 1992 in the village od Donja
Dubica near Odzak which was populated mostly by Serbian population, a Serb,
Djuric Rajko was killed from an ambush, and killing was attempted of Goranovic
Stevo, Bozic Rajko and Bozic Boro.
Perpetrator of this
crime is Ante Andrijevic, a veterinary technician from Vrbovac.
This crime was a
signal for the Serbian population to leave Donja Dubica and Serbian population,
after this event, relocated to the village of Novi Grad.
EVIDENCE: Witness: 554/94-I-193 and 191/94-4.
2.3.2. On May 31, 1992 in the hamlet of Jezero -
Odzak, crime was committed against civilians of Serbian nationality by the
armed persons, at present unknown, and on that occasion the following
inhabitants of Jezero were killed:
1) MLINAREVIC SRETA
2) CURIC ZDRAVKO, and
3) VIDIC VLADO
EVIDENCE: Minutes on the inquest by the Ministry of Interior
of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Public Safety Station Odzak No. 13-8/02-03 of May 31,
1992; 191/94-1 and 191/94-37.
2.3.3. On June 13, 1992 Zvonko Andjelic called
"Kenta" from Gornje Svilaje - Odzak, with the promise that for the
reward of 30,000 Swiss franks he will illegally transport through the Republic
of Croatia to Switzerland Radovan Kovacevic, Bosiljka Kovacevic and Marija
Miletic, all of them from Novi Grad, municipality of Odzak, took the said
persons in his passenger car only to the hill of Kadar in Gornji Svilaj and
there killed the following persons:
1) KOVACEVIC BOSILJKA, called
"Boja", from Novi Grad, municipality of Odzak, born in 1932, of
father Jovo, and
2) MILETIC MARIJA, from Novi
Grad, municipality of Odzak, born in 1932, of father Ljubo, while
3) KOVACEVIC RADOVAN, from Novi
Grad, municipality of Odzak, born in 1930 of father Mitar, whom he wounded, and
the victim escaped to the house of Pavo Gudelj, but was soon discovered so
Zvonko Andjelic also killed him.
In this manner the
above named Serbs had their lives ended.
EVIDENCE: Witness: 280/95-85.
PERPETRATOR:
1) ANDJELIC (of father Jure) ZVONKO,
member of the military police of the 102nd Odzak Brigade of the HVO
(Croat Defense Council).
2.3.4. In early June 1992 in Novi Grad - Odzak
an unidentified person in a camouflage uniform worn by the Croat soldiers,
without any cause killed an aged Serbian woman.
1) ZORKA TATIC, born in 1914,
and she was killed on her own doorstep from the automatic riffle ammunition
round fired in her back.
EVIDENCE: Witnesses: 424/95-13 and 424/95-14.
2.4. BROD (BOSANSKI BROD)
2.4.1. On March 26, 1992 in the afternoon, in
the village of Sijekovac, municipality of Brod (Bosanski Brod) in which the
majority of population was Muslim and Croat and in which there were some 50-60
Serbian houses, entered one unit of the Croat Army headed by Marko Brkaca. Most
of the soldiers were masked, with stockings over their faces so the witnesses
assume that they were their neighbors Croats and Muslims from Sijekovac.
Through the loud-speaker they called upon Serbs to hand over the weapons and
left them the deadline of 10 minutes to do so. The entire area with Serbian
houses was surrounded and the soldiers, even before the deadline, started to
open fire and raid Serbian houses, throwing out the inhabitants who were
inside. They separated men from women and children, and from the group of men
that they had singled out, immediately on the spot, killed from fire arms the
following persons:
1) ZECEVIC JOVO and his sons
2) ZECEVIC MILAN
3) ZECEVIC VASO, and
4) ZECEVIC PETAR
5) MILOSEVIC LUKA and his sons
6) MILOSEVIC ZELJKO and
7) MILOSEVIC DRAGAN, whom they
previously snatched from the arms of his mother
8) TRIFUNOVIC SVETO
9) RADOVANOVIC MARKO
One of the soldiers put the knife to the
throat of S.M. who was then 9 years old, and said: "Do you want me to cut
also your throat?", and then pushed him away and said: "You are still
small, I will not slaughter you", so the boy remained alive, but his
father Luka Milosevic and his two elder brothers were killed. After all this,
the bodies of Milan Zecevic, Petar Zecevic and Vaso Zecevic were thrown at the
waste dump site near the refinery in Brod and the body of their father Jovo was
never found.
EVIDENCE: Witnesses 584/94-1, 584/94-2, 584/94-3, 584/94=4 and
283/94
2.4.2. On April 8, 1992 in the village of
Sijekovac near Bosanski Brod, at some 01:00 hours Croat soldiers came to the
house of Sedlic Novak and killed the following persons:
1) SEDLIC NOVAK, born in 1931,
and his cousin
2) BRKOVIC MILORAD, they took
to the bathroom and beat up, then covered with benzine and set on fire. Milorad
Brkovic succeeded in escaping although they were shooting after him and had
wounded him, and when the witness 584/94-1 wanted to help her husband they did
not let her, saying: "Get back or you will burn just like Milorad and
Novak are burning", so she concluded that the perpetrators knew her
husband and brother and that most probably they were Croats and Muslims from
their village. Later she found only parts of the body of her dead husband Novak
while the most parts of the body was burnt down.
PERPETRATORS:
1) PRKACA MARKO, a Croat from
Slavonski Brod
2) KOVACEVIC ZEMIR, a Muslim from
Sijekovac
3) CAUSEVIC NIJAZ, called
"Nedo", a Muslim from Sijekovac
EVIDENCE: Witness 584/94-1 and other documents
2.4.3. On July 24, 1992 at some 01:00 hours into
the building "C" in the settlement of Skela in Bosanski Brod, came a
group of five Croat soldiers in the HVO uniforms and started banging on the
door of the apartment No. 14 where the resident was a Serb
1) STOJAKOVIC SLOBODAN
with his wife and his 11 years old child. In
fear, the wife with the child went out to the balcony and jumped from the 3rd
floor balcony, when she was seriously injured. She heard the screams of her
husband. When she later returned to the apartment she found traces of blood,
and the next day was called to make identification. At the cemetery she
recognized the corpse of her husband, whose neck was cut and in the area of his
chest he had a large number of knife wounds. After she paid the burial expenses
as she was ordered, together with son she was expelled from Bosanski Brod and
she returned there only after liberation.
PERPETRATORS:
1) KLJAJIC BLAZENKO and other HVO
members
EVIDENCE: Witness 584/94-19.
3 DEPORTATION OF CIVILIAN POPULATION
OF SERBIAN NATIONALITY
AND OF CAPTURED SERBS TO THE
PRISON CAMPS, AND INHUMAN
TREATMENT, TORTURE AND KILLINGS
3.1. INTRODUCTION
During the year 1992 and onwards in the
territories of the then-so-called Bosnia and Herzegovina which were under the
control of the Muslim and Croat armed forces, a large number of prison camps
and prisons were established for imprisonment of civilians of Serbian
nationality who were expelled from their homes, and also for the imprisonment
of the captured Serbs.
Thus, in the area of Bosnian Posavina a
system of 35 prison camps was established (Brod-8, Brcko-19, Samac-1, Orasje-4
and Odzak-3) for Serbian civilian population. It may be said that almost the
entire Bosnian Posavina was transformed into a prison camp for Serbs.
Concretely, the
following prison camps were in existence:
in Brod: 1) Secondary school center "Fric Pavlik", 2)
Tulek, warehouse of "Beograd" Department Stores, 3) storage of
building material of the "GIK" company, 4) Krndija camp (facing the
Fire Department), 5) camp along the Sava river (kayak club), 6) production hall
of the stockings factory "Bosna", 7) camp in the building of the
military police (a former "Jugobanka" building), and 8) city stadium
of the "Polet" soccer club.
in Brcko: 9) Boderiste, "Interplet" factory hall, 10)
Bosanska Bijela, town hall, 11) Bosanska Bijela, plum drying plant, 12)
Bosanska Bijela, private houses, 13) Boce, primary school, 14) Boce, local
community premises, 15) Gornji Zovik, building material storage, 16) Gornji
Rahic, town hall, 17) Gornji Rahic, building material storage, 18) Gornji
Rahic, drying plant in Okrajci, 19) Gornji Rahic, primary school, 20) garage in
the nursery garden between Rahici and Maoca, 21) Donji Rahic, private houses,
22) Maoca, chicken farm, 23) Maoca, "Bolji zivot" cafe, 24) Palanka,
local community library, 25) Rasljani, warehouse, 26) Ulice, primary school,
and 27) Ulice, town hall.
in Samac: 28) village of Domaljevac, primary school
in Orasje: 29) secondary school center, 30) Donja Mahala, camp
in the primary school, 31) Donja Mahala, shed of Mirza Filipovic called
"Deljkovic", and
in Odzak: 32) Posavska Mahala, 33) primary school (the gym),
34) "Strolit" company, and 35) Novi Grad village.
In this document we will present evidence for
some of the crimes committed in the prison camps in the area of the municipalities
of Brcko, Orasje, Odzak and Bosanski Brod.
Immediately it must be said that at present
there is no reliable evidence of a precise number of Serbs who have been taken
from the year 1992 onwards to these camps. As an exception, there is a document
entitle "The List of Detainees in Prison (school building)" in Odzak
compiled by the authorities of the Croat Defense Council (HVO) listing 618
persons, which shall be discussed in more detail in Chapter 4. The fact remains
beyond any doubt, however, that Serbs were in mass, and only because of being
Serbs, deported to the prison camps where the living conditions were
insufferable, on the one hand regarding the accommodation, nutrition and
hygiene, and on the other hand regarding serious torture, humiliation and even
killing of the inmates, many of them having experienced these camps as hell on
earth.
The capacity of the said camps in view of the
number of people who were imprisoned there, most often was even below the
spacial minimum necessary for the most elementary survival. There is evidence
that, for example, in the camp which was located in the primary school building
in Odzak, one detainee was having less than one half of a square meter for
himself!
Serbs - inmates, neither had the necessary
minimum of food and water, so the daily rations they were receiving were one
slice of bread and a cup of tea or of some so-called soup or stew. The inmates
were placed in almost intolerable positions regarding the hygiene. They were
often forced in the same room in which a large number of inmates were detained,
highly overcrowded, to have their physiological needs and bowl movement and
throughout the day to keep in that same closed room the buckets serving as a
WC. The inmates were subjected to various kinds of torture at times so
monstrous that a normal human mind can hardly perceive what a human invention
can come up with, and tortures that were such that in some cases Serbs - the
inmates were trying to take their own lives.
About the said circumstances there will be
more discussion further in this document when the most drastic kinds of
torture, harassment and humiliation of civilian inmates of Serbian nationality
in the prison camps of the area of Bosnian Posavina will be presented. It may
be said that such treatment was in operation, with only some slight
differences, also in the area of the entire so-called Bosnia and Herzegovina
controlled by the Muslim and Croat armed forces.
It is necessary to point out here that
already a special type of killing was conceived for the prison camp inmates of
Serbian nationality, which had the following characteristics: taking of the
inmates to a forced labor, beyond all the rules of the international law and
this to the front battle lines, and during the time of most intensive combat
actions, when they were used for digging trenches and construction of other
fortification structures, for pulling out of the wounded and killed Croat and
Muslim soldiers; and if they should stay alive, during the performance of such
works, they were forced to attend the mutilation of the dead bodies of the
Serbian fighters.
The witness 267/94-9, a former inmate of
Brcko, states that the inmates from the prison camps in Orasje in Donja Mahala
were digging trenches without any protection, that they were exposed from all
the sides to the fire arm bullets and grenades, that they were carrying timber
beams for kilometers, that they were not given any tools - "there were even
persons who had to do the digging with their own fingers". According to
his estimate, some 10% of inmates from Orasje and Bukova Greda were killed, and
he himself had on the spot taken out 5-6 persons who were dead or wounded. Many
inmates in this way had lost their lives, many were seriously wounded and only
through fortunate circumstances remained alive.
3.2. MANNER OF TORTURE, HARASSMENT AND
HUMILIATION OF INMATES OF SERBIAN NATIONALITY IN THE PRISON CAMPS IN THE AREA
OF BOSNIAN POSAVINA
We are presenting
here only a brief survey of some of the observed manners of torture and
humiliation of Serbian population for purpose of better inview. Later in this
document concrete cases will be stated with detailed description of the events.
3.2.1. Methods of Torture - Body
Injury of Inmates
1) Piercing of tongue with knife
was committed in the prison camp of Donja Mahala - Orasje (evidence: 158/95-1,
5 and 6; 637/95-6; 267/94-9);
2) Putting of hands in chains and
squeezing was exercised in the prison camp of Donja Mahala - Orasje
(evidence: 267/94-5 and 396/95-8);
3) Placing of a nude woman on the
burning hot electric stove, executed in the prison camp in Bosanski Brod
(evidence: 584/94-32, 584/94-14, 2667/94-2 and 55/95-2);
4) Piercing of hands and feet by a
knife or a screw-driver, executed in the prison camps in Odzak (evidence:
365/94-1) and in the prison camp of Donja Mahala - Orasje (evidence: 158/95-4
and 6; 55/95-7; 637/95-6);
5) Hitting of testicles with a hard
object, applied on inmates in the prison camp of Donja Mahala - Orasje
(evidence: 267/94-5);
6) Plugging of ears, sexual organs
and fingers to the electric current, executed in the prison camp of Donja
Mahala - Orasje (evidence: 267/94-5, 158/95-1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7);
7) Piercing of body with burning hot
iron rod - placing of burning hot iron rod in the mouth of inmates, executed in
the prison camp of Donja Mahala - Orasje (evidence: 158/95-1 and 7);
8) Biting off of ears of inmates by
teeth, committed in the prison camp in Bosanski Brod (evidence: 191/94-38,
280/95-11, 280/95-2, 593/94-31, 55/95-11 and 365/94-III-2);
9) Piercing of ears by wire, then
hanging of a piece of board on the wire or piercing of ears, committed in
the prison camp of Donja Mahala - Orasje (evidence: 95/95-7, 267/94-10,
267/94-8, 424/95-26 and 396/95-10);
10) Breaking of limbs of inmates,
committed in the prison camps in Odzak (evidence: 424/95-26) and in the prison
camp of Donja Mahala - Orasje (evidence: 267/94 and 267/94-9);
11) Stabbing of knife in the knee of
the inmate, executed in the prison camp of Donja Mahala - Orasje (evidence:
267/94-8);
12) Gauging of eyes or attempts at
gauging of eyes of inmates, committed in the prison camp of Rahic
(evidence: 617/95-2, 679/95-17);
13) Suspending inmates in the meat
drying plant, executed in the prison camp of Odzak (evidence: 191/94-35);
14) Hanging inmates by their legs,
then dropping them down so that they will hit the floor with their head,
committed in the prison camp in Bosanski Brod (evidence: 191/94-38, 55/95-26,
267/94-2 and 593/94-10);
15) Beating of inmates with boards,
chairs, electric cables, batons, table legs, executed in all the prison camps
in the area of Bosanska Posavina;
16) Cutting in by knife of the Ustashi
symbol letter "U" into the heads and various other body parts of
inmates, committed in Odzak (evidence: 424/95-42);
17) Piercing of ears by the paper
staple machine or cutting up of the ear lobes, committed in the prison
camps in Rahic (evidence: 679/95-17) and in the prison camp of Donja Mahala -
Orasje (evidence: 267/94-5 and 8, and 396-95-8);
18) Forcing of inmates to run and hit
the head on the wall or to hit the head against some other solid objects,
committed in the prison camps in Rahic (evidence: 617/95-7), in the prison camp
in Odzak (evidence: 55/95-1, 4, 5, 9 - 18, 22, 28, 29 and 43, 280/95-4, 10, 28
and 191/94-5, 30 38) and in the prison camp of Donja Mahala - Orasje (evidence:
267/94-5);
19) Forcing of inmates to jump from
the table to the floor head down, committed in the prison camp in Odzak
(evidence: 55/95-11 and 191/94-5);
20) Forcing inmates to fight each other until they faint, including fighting between brothers, executed in the prison camps in Odzak (evidence: 55/95-7, 11, 12, 16 - 18, 22, 424/95-21, 191/94-5, 55/95-13 and 18); in the prison camp in Bosanski Brod (evidence: 424/95-17, 24, 39, 42 and 280/95-76); in the prison camp of Donja Mahala - Orasje (evidence: 584