Kondic et al: False accusations

On the second day of his testimony Prosecution witness Mustafa Lepirica spoke about the wartime events in Kljuc, adding that, during an examination in the Public Safety Station in Kljuc in 1992, he was falsely accused of having intended to kill Vinko Kondic.

The examination of this witness started on Monday, November 24, when he said that his Serbian neighbours helped him hide in Kljuc, because he was afraid that he would be arrested.

“Prior to the examinations, they had already had determined the facts concerning our alleged participation in various events in the course of 1992. On this occasion I was told that I had intended to kill Vinko Kondic, using a sniper, which was not true. It is still not clear to me why they had said that,” Lepirica said, adding that he was not “dangerous to any citizen, including Kondic”.

The Prosecution charges Vinko Kondic, Bosko Lukic and Marko Adamovic with having participated in organising a group of people and abetting them to commit genocide, as well as crimes against humanity, in the Kljuc area in the course of 1991 and 1992.

This witness said earlier that Kondic was chief of the Public Safety Station in Kljuc for some time and that he was member of “the Crisis Committee of the Serbian Democratic Party, SDS,” in the course of 1992.

“No actions could have been undertaken in Kljuc without an approval by the SDS Crisis Committee. Those people were certainly responsible for all the happenings,” Lepirica said.

During the course of his examination Lepirica said that he did not suffer any “direct” consequences caused by Kondic, but he said that Muslims and Croats were exposed to various “intimidation methods” in the town in the course of 1992.

“From April to September 1992 Muslims and Croats could not leave Kljuc. In that period they used intimidation methods. As soon as they had a chance to do it, they all signed papers waiving their property and left Kljuc,” Lepirica said.

The trial is due to continue on Monday, December 1.