Zivkovic and Tadic: Guaranteed Safety
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“I heard that a Veljo Tadic and Dusko Tadic had entered the premises and executed about 30 people. People said they had done it,” the witness said.
Dusko Tadic, former member of the Plavi orlovi (Blue Eagles) Unit, and Milorad Zivkovic, former Chief of the Public Safety Station in Cajnice and member of the Crisis Committee in that town, are charged with having participated, by shooting automatic guns and throwing hand grenades, in the murder of 11 civilians who were detained in the hunters’ house in Mostina, in May 1992.
The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina charges them with participation in the unlawful arrests and detention of Bosniaks, who were subjected to torture and inhumane treatment during the course of 1992.
The witness, who recognised the indictees in the courtroom, said “the disturbing” of Bosniaks in Cajnice began in March 1992, adding that a meeting was held in the town on April 11, 1992 “with the aim of calming the tension”.
“Dusko said that the power should be given to Serb citizens only. (…) Zivkovic said that this proposal should be accepted, or else the police station should be divided. No agreements were made at that meeting,” the witness said, adding that some meeting participants stressed the need for joint participation of Bosniaks and Serbs in the local authorities.
The witness told the Court that following the meeting, the local Bosniaks were scared and they started leaving Cajnice.
“They were publicly invited to return. Their safety was guaranteed, so many of them went back. My mother and father returned to the town. He was then arrested and killed. He was exhumed four years ago,” the witness said.
During the course of his stay in Gorazde, the witness heard that check-points were set up in Cajnice. He said that Bosniaks were stopped at those check-points and some of them were “arrested and taken away”.
During his testimony, the witness mentioned Milun Kornjaca, who is currently on trial before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina for crimes committed in Cajnice. He said that Kornjaca “and his group were the most radical of all”.
The trial is due to continue on February 21 this year.
