Jevic et al: Deceived by Fake Blue Helmets

Prosecution witness Enver Husic was 16 years old when he fled through the woods towards Tuzla together with his brother, father and other residents, hoping they would be rescued. He said they were exposed to shelling, adding that about a hundred men, including his father, were seriously wounded.
 
“The fire came from all sides. We saw a UN transporter on the road. They told us, using megaphones, that we had to surrender or else they would kill us. They said that UNPROFOR members would escort us to Tuzla. These words encouraged us. (…) After having surrendered, we realized the soldiers with blue helmets were not UNPROFOR members, but Serb soldiers. This meant death. This meant we had been deceived and they would kill us,” witness Husic said.   
 
The witness told the Court that a small number of armed people were among the group of Srebrenica residents who fled, but he did not see any of them shooting.
 
The indictment alleges that members of the “Jahorina” Training Center, acting on orders issued by indictees Dusko Jevic, Mendeljev Djuric, Goran Markovic and Nedjo Ikonic and under their supervision, participated, in collaboration with other units, in the capture of several thousand Bosniak men on July 12 and 13.

It further alleges that they detained the men in a meadow in Sandici, then took them to various locations, including a warehouse in Kravica, and participated in the shooting of more than 1,000 men.
 
Jevic was Commander of the “Jahorina” Training Center, Djuric and Ikonic were Commanders of the First and Second Company with the Center and Markovic was a squad Commander with the First Company.
 
The witness said that soldiers waited for people to surrender, took their money away and escorted them to a meadow. As he explained, before crossing the road, all of them had to leave their bags behind.
 
“To me, this meant we would be killed. We had a few more moments of life,” Husic said.
 
He told the Court that his classmate and neighbour were separated from the rest of the group.
 
“As I was going to a house to fetch water, I heard horrible screaming as the two of them were beaten up in a house. I guessed the two of them were there,” the witness said.
 
The witness and two other young men were told to bring water from a drinking fountain, and he was “allowed to give one cup of water” to each man in the meadow.
 
Husic recalled having seen buses driving people from Potocari to Tuzla. He said the buses stopped on the way for those people to “be robbed again”. The witness managed to escape by getting on a bus.
 
“A driver told me to pour some water into a TetraPak container and leave it next to the steering wheel. I dropped the canisters, left the water for the driver and got on the bus to save my life. Some women managed to hide me by covering me with their bags,” Husic said.
 
The witness said that his brother managed to survive because soldiers loaded him into a truck when he said he was less than 15 years old. He said he has never seen his father again.
 
The trial is due to continue on Monday, October 11.

M.T.