veličina fonta

verzija za štampu

copyright

pošalji komentar

Koricanske stijene: Blood and Cartridges on the Road

Korićanske stijene

05 February 2010  Testifying for the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, protected witness K3 says that the four indictees escorted the convoy of civilians, and members of the Interventions Squad from Prijedor participated in separating about 200 men from the rest of the convoy and executing them.

"As far as I can remember we were informed about the convoy one day prior to its departure from Prijedor. Pero Civcic, and Paras may have been there as well, told us we had to come to the Public Safety Station earlier than usual the next morning. According to Paras' instructions and directives, we took away money and other personal belongings from the passengers during their journey the next day," K3 recalled.

During his testimony in court, K3 identified Petar Civcic, Sasa Zecevic, Marinko Ljepoja and Radoslav Knezevic, saying that they were members of the First Interventions Squad of the Public Safety Station in Prijedor, like him.

Civcic, former Commander of the First Interventions Squad of the Public Safety Station in Prijedor, Zecevic, Knezevic and Ljepoja, former members of that Squad, and Branko Topola, a former guard in Trnopolje detention camp, are charged with participation in escorting a convoy of civilians from Prijedor who were going to be exchanged in Travnik.  

As stated by witnesses, Miroslav Paras, who is now dead, was Commander of the Interventions Squad of the Public Safety Station in Prijedor.

The indictment alleges that during the transportation of about 1,200 Bosniaks and Croats on August 21, 1992 members of the Squad took part in selecting and executing more than 200 men at Koricanske stijene.  

Protected witness K3 said that Petar Civcic tasked members of the First Interventions Squad with escorting the convoy, while Miroslav Paras took "about 10 men" from a bus, who as he found out later, were then killed.

"Paras randomly chose about ten men capable of serving the military and told them to leave the bus in which he was traveling as well. I think that Paras said the convoy should proceed.  Upon our arrival in Smetovi I saw only one member of the Interventions Squad in the other buses," K3 said.

This witness said that Zeljko Stojnic told him that the civilians had been killed. Stojnic and five other members of the Interventions Squad are on trial before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina for participation in the crime committed at Koricanske stijene.

"The first thing he said, which I will never forget, after he had got on the truck by which I was returning to Prijedor, was: 'What have we done? We shall end up in Tunjica' (author's note: a prison in Banja Luka). A short time later we met a soldier, who asked us why we had killed 'so many people'? Stojnic confirmed that all the civilians had been executed. I could see many bullet cartridges and blood on the road," the witness said.

As stated by witness K3, a few days after the murder of civilians at Koricanske stijene, members of the Interventions Squad tried to collect the bodies of the dead, but they were unable to do this.

"The corpses had already started decaying. The slope was very steep, so we could not do anything. (...) Someone, who was dressed in overalls, went down and poured some acid over the bodies. Later we heard various stories, one of which said that the bodies were covered with stones," K3 said.

The cross-examination of protected witness K3 is scheduled for February 11, 2010.