Koricanske stijene: Testimonies by Criminal Accomplices

“The people who had been singled out realized something awful was going to happen. They said: ‘People, they will kill us’. They screamed and said: ‘Don’t do it’. It was horrible…unimaginable… Then they started jumping and the shooting started,” Ivankovic recalled. After having admitted guilt in July this year, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Ivankovic testified for the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina at the trial of Sasa Zecevic, Radoslav Knezevic, Petar Civcic, Branko Topola and Marinko Ljepoja, who are charged with having participated in escorting a convoy transporting non-Serb civilians from Prijedor to Travnik on August 21, 1992. When the convoy reached Koricanske stijene location on Mount Vlasic, about 200 men were separated from the rest and shot.

The indictment alleges that Civcic was Commander of the First Interventions Squad with the Public Safety Station in Prijedor, Zecevic, Knezevic and Ljepoja were members of the First Interventions Squad and Topola was a guard in Trnopolje detention camp, near Prijedor.

Ivankovic told the Court that the First Interventions Squad of the Public Safety Station in Prijedor was tasked with escorting a convoy consisting of “16 or 17 trucks and buses, resettling non-Serb civilians from the Prijedor area”.

Ivankovic said that indictee Petar Civcic, the Squad Commander, as well as Squad members Zecevic, Knezevic, Ljepoja, and Darko Mrdja, Zoran Babic, Milorad Radakovic, Milorad Skrbic, Ljubisa Cetic, Dusan Jankovic, Gordan Djuric, Zeljko Stojnic, Zeljko Zec, late Zeljko Bulic and Miroslav Paras escorted the convoy that day.

In 2004 Mrdja admitted guilt before the Hague Tribunal. He was sentenced to 17 years in prison. Djuric also admitted his role in the crime. He was sentenced before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina to eight years in prison. The trial of Babic, Radakovic, Skrbic, Cetic, Jankovic and Stojnic is underway.

Ivankovic recalled having seen Branko Topola, whom he knew as a member of the Territorial Defence from Tukovi, who worked as a guard in Trnopolje detention camp, at the convoy departure point.

“Following the departure of the convoy, the first stop was in Kozarac. When the convoy stopped, it was very hot. People were told to take the awnings up to take some fresh air. We were told that we had to wait for four more buses from Trnopolje, bringing more people leaving Prijedor (…) On this occasion I noticed Branko Topola and Deba, who was a member of our Squad. It was strange to me to see Topola, as he was not a member of the Interventions Squad,” Ivankovic said.

He said the convoy stopped for the second time in the vicinity of Karanovac, where Darko Mrdja ordered him to “rob the passengers”.

“I gave them a bag and told them to put some change in it, just to please him. However, when Mrdja took the bag, he noticed it did not contain much money, so he got mad,” he said.

The indictment alleges that, prior to its arrival at Koricanske stijene, the convoy was stopped several times and the civilians were robbed.

Ivankovic claims that, at Koricanske stijene the men were order to stand in line, “by the edge of the ravine and hold their hands down”. After that the shooting started. It lasted for about “five or ten minutes”. Besides him, “Mrdja, Paras and Bulic” were shooting. On the other side he spotted “Sasa Zecevic,
Marinko Ljepoja and Zoran Babic”.

“After the shooting had stopped, they made me go down to the ravine. I do not know how I did it. I walked through some channel. Then I saw the horror, the blood, the bowels, broken legs and arms,” Ivankovic recalled, adding that, on its way back to Prijedor, the Interventions Squad stopped in Knezevo, where he found out that “Drasko Krnadija, Radoslav Knezevic and Zeljko Stojnic” escorted the second bus, adding that Branko Topola joined them some time later.

“While we were in Knezevo, a police vehicle passed by. Someone said: ‘Here are the two commanders’. By that they meant Dule Jankovic and Petar Civcic,”
Ivankovic said.

Ivankovic recalled that, seven or eight days after the incident at Koricanske stijene the Interventions Squad was sent back to the same location in order to “clean the terrain”. However, as stated by the witness, they managed to lift only four bodies “because the terrain was very inaccessible”.

The next hearing is due to take place on December 16, when the Defence of five indictees will cross-examine Ivankovic.