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Koricanske stijene: Problematic Trip

Korićanske stijene

08 December 2009  

A former driver, who drove one of the vehicles in the convoy transporting Prijedor residents to Travnik in August 1992, says he did not see Zoran Babic when the policemen separated men and loaded them into two buses.

Milovan Djurdjevic, who testified for the Defence of Zoran Babic and two more indictees charged with crimes committed at Koricanske stijene, said that he drove "passengers" by truck from Tukovi village, in Prijedor Municipality, to Turbe in Travni as part of his civilian duty on three occasions during the course of the war.

 

"The passengers safely arrived at the destination. The third trip, in August 1992, when people were killed... this was the only problematic trip,"
Djurdjevic said.

 

The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina charges Babic, Milorad Radakovic, Milorad Skrbic, Ljubisa Cetic, Dusan Jankovic and Zeljko Stojnic, former members of the Police Interventions Squad from Prijedor, with having escorted a convoy of buses and trucks transporting more than 1,200 Bosniak and Croatian civilians from Prijedor on August 21, 1992.

 

The indictment alleges that the convoy stopped on Mount Vlasic. It further alleges that the indictees participated in the separation of more than 200 men, who were then taken to Koricanske stijene and shot.

 

Djurdjevic told the Court that he saw policemen, passengers, buses and trucks in Tukovi, adding that, upon his departure for Travnik, Dado Mrdja drove in his truck as "police escort".

 

"The passengers sat underneath the awning. The awning was pulled down, closed and tied all the time," the witness said. Answering the Prosecution's questions during cross-examination, he said that "people could breathe" underneath the awning, "because it was not armored".

 

Darko Mrdja, a former member of the Interventions Squad with the Special Police Unit from Prijedor, was sentenced, before the Hague Tribunal, to 17 years in prison for the crime committed at Koricanske stijene.

 

The witness said that, on the way to Travnik the convoy stopped several times.
Its last stop was "by some water", where they stayed for about half an hour.


 

"I saw policemen, who I did not know, because they were young people. They distributed those people in buses. The following morning we heard those people had been killed. I saw them taking out those people. They ordered us to continue our trip immediately. Mrdja did not come with me. We arrived at Turbe and unloaded the passengers," the witness said, adding that he did not hear any shooting or see anything unusual on his way back.

 

The witness said he knew indictee Babic, adding that he "did not see him anywhere" on that day.

 

The Defence of Milorad Radakovic and Ljubisa Cetic directly examined this witness. Answering their questions, Djurdjevic said that, on his way back from Turbe, he picked up "a guy from Prijedor" in Vitovlje village, adding that the person was armed and dressed in police uniform. He identified indictee Cetic as that person in the courtroom.

 

At the next hearing, due on December 14, 2009, two Defence witnesses will testify. One of them is Marinko Ljepoja, a former member of the Interventions Squad, who is on trial before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, together with four other indictees, for participation in the crime committed at Koricanske stijene.

 

At this hearing the Trial Chamber informed the Defence teams that the proposal to examine Damir Ivankovic and Gordan Djuric as witnesses has been accepted. Ivankovic and Djuric were originally charged under the same indictment as these six indictees, but, after having admitted guilt and testified against the other indictees, they were sentenced to 14 and 8 years in prison respectively.