Kujundzic: Killing Grapska residents

1. September 2008.15:40
Two Prosecution witnesses claim to have been mistreated by indictee Predrag Kujundzic, while witness Tokaca speaks about the killing of people in Doboj and the surrounding villages.

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Testifying at the trial of Predrag Kujundzic, Mirsad Tokaca, President of the Research and Documentation Center – an NGO from Sarajevo, said that he had got “numerous pieces of information concerning victims and happenings in Grapska village,” as well as several documents, indicating that 34 village residents were killed on May 10, 1992.

“In their statements witnesses mention that members of the ‘Predini vukovi’ participated in the mistreatment of people. Some mention Predrag Kujundzic as an executor,” Tokaca said.

The State Prosecution charges Kujundzic, as commander of the “Predini vukovi” (“Predo’s Wolves”) Unit, with having participated in “an attack on and destruction of” Grapska village, in Doboj municipality, on May 10, 1992. Besides this, he is charged with using 16 people as human shields and killing them, as well as detaining non-Serbian civilians in “Percin disko” building.

Prosecution witness Tokaca spoke about 17 victims, who were killed on June 12, 1992, when they were used as human shields in Makljenovac. He said that there were “a number of documents and statements, given by survivors”, about these people and the mistreatment of detainees in “Percin disko” detention camp.

Besides Tokaca, protected witness 14 was also examined. Due to the additional protective measures, the public had to be in another room during the course of his testimony. He said “five or six soldiers” came to his apartment in Doboj in September 1993, adding that he knew Predrag Kujundzic, but he did not know the others.

“They were looking for some radio station. They started kicking me with their legs, as I did not have it. Predo hit me on my nose with some weapons. I started bleeding. Then they left. They said they would be back, but they never came again,” witness 14 said, adding that, as a victim, he did not ask for prosecution of the persons who had beaten him up, because “it was not the worst thing that could happen to me, because this happened during wartime”.
Witness Ibrahim Hadzikadunic told the Trial Chamber that, in April 1993 he was taken, together with about 20 other men, to Stanic rijeka, where they had to “retrench the frontline”.

“Upon our arrival we were met by a captain from Doboj and Predrag Kujundzic. I heard of him and ‘Predini vukovi’ Unit. He asked us to dig trenches as per their instructions. If it was not possible to work at daylight, we dug trenches at night. Weather conditions did not matter,” Hadzikadunic said.

As indicated by this witness, the indictee forced him and seven other persons to remove “roof construction and tiles” from a Bosniak house and load them onto a truck.
“After that we took household appliances from Bosniak houses. They would just go there and say: ‘Predrag Kujundzic ordered us to do this’,” the witness said, adding that this lasted for about “20 to 30 days”. He said he did not see the indictee any more.

The trial is due to continue on September 11, 2008.

 

This post is also available in: Bosnian