Koricanske stijene: Shouting and Shooting

Sadik Suhonjic, his wife and three children joined the convoy of trucks and buses that transported civilians from Prijedor to Travnik, where they were supposed to be exchanged, on August 21, 1992. When they arrived at Koricanske stijene they heard “shouting and shooting”, but they did not know about the murder of about 200 people who were in the same convoy until they arrived in Travnik.

“Trucks and buses came to pick us up at the stadium in Prijedor. This is where I saw Zoran Babic, Zeljko Stojnic and the others, who were dressed in blue camouflage uniforms. They had big sunglasses, guns and revolvers. They were members of the Emergency Interventions Squad, and we were afraid of them,” Suhonjic said.

The witness was not able to identify Stojnic in the courtroom, but he did identify Babic and Milorad Radakovic, claiming that he saw them in front of the stadium in Prijedor, but he did not see them afterwards. 

Babic, Stojnic, Radakovic, Damir Ivankovic, Gordan Djuric, Milorad Skrbic, Ljubisa Cetic and Dusan Jankovic are charged, as members of the Public Safety Station in Prijedor and Emergency Interventions Police Squad, with having participated in the shooting of about 200 civilians at Koricanske stijene on August 21, 1992.

The witness said that a small number of people joined the convoy in Trnopolje, adding that, on their way to the Vlasic plateau, where the exchange was done, they took away money and other valuables from the civilians.

“A member of the Emergency Interventions Squad took Suad Kadiric from our truck. He came back carrying an empty bag. He told us that we had to put our money in it. After we had given him as much as we could, he came back and told us, visibly scared, that we had to give him jewelry as well. Then I saw Zeljko Stojnic standing in front of the truck,” this witness said.

Among other things, the indictees are charged with having taken money, jewelry and other valuables from the civilians, while “threatening them and telling them that they would be killed”.

Suhonjic said that a short time later the convoy moved on, adding that he heard “shouting and shooting” in the vicinity of the Ugar river.

“We were locked in the trailer, so we did not know what was going on. The shooting lasted for a long time. It came from the vicinity, so we thought that we had stopped near a battlefield. Upon arrival to Travnik, I heard that some people were taken away from the convoy and killed,” this witness explained.

Suhonjic said that, upon arrival at the exchange point, he saw members of the Emergency Interventions Squad. He said that he and his family were among the civilians who then went towards Travnik.

Bekir Mujagic, who appeared as the second Prosecution witness, was in the convoy of people who were exchanged on August 21, 1992. He hid in one of the buses.

“A friend of mine told me to get on a bus. I knew the bus driver as well. As recommended by the driver, I sat behind him and covered myself with all sorts of stuff. I noticed that there were one or two soldiers escorting the bus. At the exchange location there were people dressed in blue camouflage uniforms,” Mujagic said.

The witness was not able to confirm whether he heard shooting at Koricanske stijene, but he said that upon his arrival in Travnik he was told that some civilians had been killed.

The trial is due to continue on Tuesday, June 9.