Koricanske stijene: The Safest Convoy

Edin Mujadzic, who lives in Tukovi, Prijedor municipality, claims that he and his father saw their relatives and neighbours off going with a convoy towards Vlasic in August 1992.

“Many people had come to the place from where the convoy was due to depart. Some joined the convoy, while others saw them off.

“Members of the Interventions Squad were there as well. One could recognise them by the camouflage police uniforms they wore and a yellow minivan, which I remember very well as some people were taken away from Tukovi by minivan and they have been missing since,” says Mujadzic, who was 14 at the time.

The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina has charged Sasa Zecevic, Radoslav Knezevic, Petar Civcic and Marinko Ljepoja, former members of the Interventions Squad with the Public Safety Station in Prijedor, and Branko Topola, former guard in Trnopolje detention camp, with crimes committed at Koricanske stijene.

The indictment alleges that on August 21, 1992, the indictees escorted a convoy of more than 1,200 civilians who were traveling from Prijedor to Travnik.

They are further charged with separating about 200 men from other convoy passengers and shooting them at Koricanske stijene. According to the indictment, they robbed the civilians before killing them.

Mujadzic said that, although the convoy was said to be the safest of all convoys, his family had doubts as to whether or not to leave Prijedor with that convoy.

“When my father saw that the Interventions Squad members escorted the convoy and after the yellow minivan passed by us quickly and when we saw Zoran Babic, Darko Mrdja and Dusan Jankovic, my father told me: ‘We are definitely not going to join this convoy’,” Mujadzic recalled, adding he did not see any of the indictees on that day.

Babic and Jankovic are on trial, together with three other former members of the Interventions Squad, before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, for the same crime, while Mrdja was sentenced before the Hague Tribunal to 17 years in prison.

The witness said that no other convoys had been said to be “the safest” up until then. During the course of cross-examination he said this was because it “was the worst of all convoys”.

“Even the Prijedor Radio broadcast an invitation for people to join the safe convoy one day prior to its departure. Even our Serb neighbours who had said the convoy would be safe changed their mind when they heard that Dado Mrdja had left with the convoy,” the witness said.

The trial is due to continue on December 9, when the Prosecution will continue presenting evidence.