Perkovic: Burnt Bodies
23 November 2009 A Prosecution witness says he saw indictee Stojan Perkovic in June 1992 taking two neighbours away, adding that those people were then beaten up.
Sulejman Bajraktarevic told the Court that in late June 1992 a truck stopped in front of a house in Mesici. He said that about ten soldiers and Stojan Perkovic got off the truck.
"Stojan approached us and greeted us in a correct manner. He told me I had to give my gun to him. (...) I gave it to Stojan, who then gave it to his son Pedja. (...) Nurija Kujovic then appeared. Stojan ordered him to get on the truck. The truck then left. I saw they also picked up Mehmed Bajric," Bajraktarevic said.
The witness said that, when the two neighbours came back to the village on the following day, he saw "bruises inflicted by punching" on the face of Nurija Kujovic.
"He told me that they blindfolded him upon arrival at Varosiste. He said he did not know where he was or who had inflicted the bruises," the witness said.
Stojan Perkovic, a former squad commander with the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, in Ladjevine village, in Rogatica, is charged with crimes committed in that municipality in 1992.
The indictment alleges that, in June 1992, Perkovic and several other VRS members "unlawfully deprived" two civilians "of liberty". It further alleges that the two men were then detained in a cottage in Ladjevine village, from which they were taken, one after the other. The men, who were blindfolded, were then physically abused, in the indictee's presence, by members of the indictee's unit.
Bajraktarevic told the court he left Mesici village on July 11, 1992, when he saw his house and all the other houses in the village burning.
"I was hiding in the woods, while my mother stayed in the basement, together with my aunts. (...) A month and a half later me, my cousin and our neighbour went to the village. We saw four bodies on the river bank. All of them had been set on fire. Four women were lying on their backs - my mother Hajra, two aunts Hadzira and
Nezira, and Nura Dzindo. We collected the bones into a big bag, which we then buried in the garden," the witness said.
Bajraktarevic identified indictee Perkovic in court. At the end of his testimony he said the indictee had always treated him in a correct manner. He then asked him: "Stojan, did I say anything wrong?"
Witnesses Ismet Ajnadzic and Hilmija Imsirovic left their village Kukavice, in Rogatica Municipality, on July 9, 1992, when "the shelling started". Ajnadzic's parents Nail and Canka stayed in the village. On his arrival in Gorazde he found out they "had been killed". Imsirovic lost his grandmother Fatima in Kukavice village.
"On that day they started shelling and bombarding the village. We went to the woods and decided to go to Gorazde. That evening we managed to get through, the refugee convoy got through, and then I found out she was gone," Imsirovic said, adding that he found the remains of her grandmother after the war, but he did not say when exactly.
The indictment alleges that, in July 1992, Perkovic led the attack on Kukavice, Kujundzijevici and Mesici village, when a large number of civilians were killed, while their houses were set on fire and their property was pillaged.
The trial is due to continue on December 17.
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