Koricanske stijene: Another guilt admission agreement

The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina announced that it reached a guilt admission agreement with one more indictee, who is charged with crimes committed at Koricanske stijene, but it did not indicate who the person was.  

The proposed guilt admission agreement will be considered on August 25. 

The State Prosecution charges Zoran Babic, Milorad Radakovic, Gordan Djuric, Milorad Skrbic, Ljubisa Cetic, Dusan Jankovic and Zeljko Stojnic with the crimes committed at Koricanske stijene on August 21, 1992. 

The Prosecution considers that all indictees, as former members of the Emergency Interventions Squad with the Public Safety Station in Prijedor, participated in separating and shooting more than 200 civilians at Koricanske stijene, on Mount Vlasic.  

Damir Ivankovic admitted having participated in the crime. After having accepted the guilt admission agreement, the Court sentenced him to 14 years’ imprisonment. 

After that indictee Gordan Djuric reached a guilt admission agreement with the Prosecution but the Trial Chamber refused to accept it, because Djuric’s testimony against the other indictees was not in line with “the factual description contained in the indictment”.

At this hearing Prosecution witness Enes Dzaferovic was examined. He was in the convoy, which moved from Tukovi, in Prijedor municipality, to Travnik on August 21, 1992. The witness told the Court that he and some other civilians were in a bus, which broke down just before they reached Knezevo/Skender Vakuf. 

“We stayed in the bus, waiting. A Lada vehicle came. Three soldiers, carrying automatic rifles, came out of it. One of them started shouting, telling us that he could kill us. A short time later an empty bus came from Travnik. We were loaded into it,” Dzaferovic said, adding that “Mile, who saved them later on, arrived at that moment as well”.  

The witness explained that they got on the second bus and moved on. However, this bus broke down soon.

“We stopped by some villages. We saw soldiers. Three or four people, who had cockades on their caps, approached us. They asked Mile if he wanted to go to sleep and they could take care of this. Mile responded by saying that he was the tour manager and convinced them to leave,” the witness said. 

Following the end of his examination, the witness pointed to indictee Milorad Skrbic, saying that he was the “Mile” he spoke about. 

The witness said that the civilians were then loaded into some trucks, which drove them to Smetovi village. From that place they walked to Travnik. 

The witness said that, before the buses had broken down, a soldier named “Soka” from Tukovi was with them. He said that this soldier ordered two civilians to collect money and jewelry from the other civilians. 

“Zoka stuffed a lot of money into his military trousers pockets. The driver took the bag containing jewelry,” the witness said, adding that he handed over about 3,000 marks and a watch, which somebody had given him as present.  

Second Prosecution witness Ferid Kovacevic was present in the convoy moving from Prijedor to Travnik on August 21, 1992. 

“After having reached Koricanske stijene, I saw, being on a truck covered with awning, two buses full with people looking down. The buses were blue. There was a sign saying Ikarbus on them. This was all I could see. I do not remember hearing any shooting,” the witness said. 

The witness said that, during the course of the drive to Travnik, “a man entered the truck several times, asking us to hand in our money and jewelry”. The witness does not know who the man was.