Testifying for his Defence, the indictee said he refused to listen to his colleague Darko Mrdja when he invited him to take part in “selection of men for an exchange”.
“Mrdja came and told us to select two buses of men to be exchanged. I did not obey his order. I found my girlfriend, who was leaving the town with the convoy, and spoke to her. (…) Later on, Mrdja asked me to help with the exchange, but Commander Paras ordered me to go back,” Stojnic said.
The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina charges Zeljko Stojnic, Zoran Babic, Milorad Radakovic and Milorad Skrbic, former members of the First Interventions Squad with the Public Safety Station in Prijedor, and Dusan Jankovic, former Commander of the Public Safety Station, with participation in the shooting of about 200 male civilians at Koricanske stijene on Mount Vlasic on August 21, 1992.
Darko Mrdja, another former member of the Squad, was sentenced, before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ICTY, to 17 years in prison, while Miroslav Paras, former Squad Commander, has since died.
Stojnic said that during the course of a break Paras ordered him to single out a convoy passenger, who would then take away the money from the other civilians and put it in a bag.
“I still have regrets about the bag. I feel remorse and I am sorry, but I did not dare oppose Paras,” Stojnic said.
At this hearing the fifth indictee’s Defence examined its only witness Elvir Hadzimuratovic, who said he saw Stojnic, when the convoy stopped, asking people who were leaving Prijedor on a truck in which Hadzimuratovic was also traveling, to give him money and jewelry.
“Stojnic came and asked us to give him Serbian dinars, as we would no longer need them. Then he came again telling us to collect 5,000 marks or jewelry. People gave away all they had with them,” Hadzimuratovic said.
The witness described the last stop, when the men who were later shot were separated from the rest of the convoy.
“They started reading out some people’s names and taking them out of the trucks. My name was not read out, but I think the list had already been prepared, as they read out the names very quickly,” the witness said.
The fifth indictee’s Defence completed its evidence presentation with the examination of this witness.
The next hearing is due to take place on Monday, June 21, 2010, when a status conference will be held.
