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Klickovic et al: Responsibility for Crimes

11. February 2009.00:00
The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina reads a witness' statement, in which he speaks about those who planned and those who committed crimes in the Bosanska Krupa area.

This post is also available in: Bosnian

The State Prosecution read a statement given by Ferid Setovic in the course of an investigation in April 2005. In his statement Setovic said that Gojko Klickovic, Miroslav Vjestica and Mladen Drljaca were responsible for several crimes committed in Bosanska Krupa in the course of 1992.

As indicated by Prosecutor Philip Alcock, Setovic, who died in 2008, gave this statement during an investigation conducted by the Prosecution against Gojko Klickovic and Miroslav Vjestica.

“Vjestica was a policy-maker, while Gojko executed those policies, as he was a good speaker. I remember Gojko, Mladen Drljaca and Mirko Orelj addressing Serbs at meetings after the elections, inviting them to live in a separate state. Klickovic and Vjestica attended all events that took place in
Jasenica,” Setovic’s statement alleged.

The State Prosecution charges Gojko Klickovic, Jovan Ostojic and Mladen Drljaca, among other things, with forcible capture, detention, physical and mental abuse and murder of non-Serbs from the Bosanska Krupa area, in 1992.

The three men are further charged with having participated, together with Vjestica and Orelj, in a joint criminal enterprise that began in the summer of 1991, with the aim of creating a Serb municipality of Bosanska Krupa to be inhabited by a Serb population.

Setovic’s statement further alleges that on April 23, 1992 he was taken from his house in Bosanska Krupa to Jasenica, where he “was examined, just like other Muslims, before a court martial”.

“They would take us one by one. We had to go between two rows of people, who were standing in front of the court building. Those people hit us. Mladen Drljaca was judge, Orelj was jury, while Dmitar Ciganovic was prosecutor. Following the examination, I stayed in Jasenica for three days, before being
released. I then went to Arapusa,” the statement says.

The indictment alleges that Drljaca presided at the temporary Court Martial in Jasenica during 1992. It further alleges that detainees were examined and randomly accused before this Court, while some were released. After having been examined in May 1992, some prisoners were handed over to the Military Police. After that they were detained in the “Petar Kocic” school building.

Before reading this statement, the Prosecution examined Samir Alijagic, who said that, at the age of 19, he was detained “in a building, near the court”, in Krupa and Kamenica detention camp, near Drvar, in the course of 1992 and 1993.

“I lived in Zalin village until May 1, 1992, when we were ordered to move out. We joined a convoy, consisting of residents of other areas, and went to Sanski Most. We stayed in Donji Kamengrad. In November 1992 military policemen Dragan Popovic and Dusko Jaksic took me from this village to Krupa,” Alijagic said.

As indicated by Alijagic, during his detention in Krupa he was examined and beaten with “rubber sticks, electricity cables, wooden sticks and so on”. On December 10, 1992 he was transferred to Kamenica detention camp, together with two other detainees. He stayed there until January 22, 1993, when he was exchanged.

The trial is due to continue on Tuesday, February 17.

This post is also available in: Bosnian