Witnesses accuse Ljubinac

Prosecution witnesses Mujo Zimic and Armin Bazdar have claimed that Radisav Ljubinac is responsible for an attack on the village of Seljani, and that he drove the bus in which the non-Serb population was taken to an improvised detention camp in the high school centre Veljko Vlahovic in Rogatica, town in eastern Bosnia.

The indictment claims that Ljubinac participated in an attack on Seljani, during which numerous civilians were killed, on June 3, 1992.

Mujo Zimic described how, on May 26, two uniformed men took his father Nurija from Seljani for questioning to Ljubinac’s house. According to the indictment, the remains of Nurija Zimic have never been found, and his son does not have any information about his fate.

Mujo Zimic blames Ljubinac for the disappearance of his father, and claims that he is responsible “for all military things that went on in Seljani”.

According to the indictment, on August 15, 1992 Ljubinac took 27 civilians to village Duljevac, after which they were all taken to Jacen hill, where they were used as a human shield and then executed. Three men survived, including Armin Bazdar, who was 15 years old at the time.

Bazdar told the court that Ljubinac drove the bus in which he and his family were taken to the detention camp in the high school centre Veljko Vlahovic.

“I met him a few times after that, mostly as a bus driver, but he never seemed to be under the influence of alcohol,” Bazdar claimed.

During the opening statement, Radisav Ljubinac’s defence attorney said that his defendant is a recovering alcoholic and that during the war he was often under the influence of alcohol, which explains his nickname Pjano (drunkard).

While speaking of the execution on Jacen hill, Bazdar said that he did not see Ljubinac shoot at the civilians, but that immediately after the shooting he heard him talk to “a fellow soldier”.

Bazdar was a key witness at the trial of Dragoje Paunovic, who was recently found guilty of shooting civilians on Jacen hill. Paunovic has appealed against this decision.

The continuation of the trial is scheduled for September 12.