Koricanske stijene: Convoy "Cleaning"
04 March 2010 Melisa Bajric says her father and brother were separated from the convoy of people traveling from Prijedor to Travnik in August 1992 and shot at Koricanske stijene.
"When I came to Trnopolje on that day, August 21, my brother and father were no longer there. My nephew told me they had left with a convoy. He said a mini van, in which there were some policemen, including Brane Topola, escorted the convoy," Prosecution witness Bajric said.
Branko Topola, a former guard in Trnopolje detention camp, Sasa Zecevic, Radoslav Knezevic and Marinko Ljepoja, former members of the Interventions Squad with the Public Safety Station in Prijedor, and Petar Civcic, Commander of the First Interventions Squad, are charged with the murder of about 200 male civilians at Koricanske stijene on August 21, 1992.
"A day or two earlier I was informed about the convoy by Dragoljub Gligic, a member of the Interventions Squad, who knew my father. He told me some people at the police station agreed the convoy would be 'cleaned' and many things would happen. I took this seriously and I went to my father's. He said he would not go, but, in the end, it turned out I could not stop him and he left," the witness said.
Bajric said she found out about the death of her father and brother only after she "had left Prijedor in September 1992".
"A man told me that Dado Mrdja got on a bus and called my brother's name out. My father asked if he could come with him instead. Mrdja then asked him who he was. He then just said: 'Both of you should come'. So they took them out and killed them," Bajric said.
After having admitted guilt for participation in the crime committed at Koricanske stijene, Darko Mrdja was sentenced before the Hague Tribunal to 17 years in prison.
The witness told the Court she was "deported when Carakovo village was cleaned" in July 1992, adding that "Serb soldiers" took her father and brother to Keraterm detention camp, while she went to her aunt's in Prijedor.
"I could not contact them at the time. They stayed there for 20 days. Keraterm was then closed. They transferred the survivors to Trnopolje detention camp. I was allowed to visit them in this camp. I went there every day. It was not easy, because they would take my stuff away and question me at check-points. This was done either by the Interventions Squad or military police," Bajric said.
Bajricr identified Zecevic and Knezevic in court, saying that they were members of the Interventions Squad. She said Topola was "a member of the Military Police Squad, who worked as a guard in Trnopolje detention camp".
The next hearing is due to take place on March 18 this year, when the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina will examine two witnesses.
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