Koricanske stijene: Uninterrupted Passage of Convoy

Zeljko Stojnic, whom the State Prosecution sentenced, under a first instance verdict, to 15 years in prison for participation in the shooting of about 200 civilians at Koricanske stijene, testified in defence of five indictees who are charged with the same crime.

He said that he only saw indictees Zecevic and Ljepoja among the convoy escorts on August 21, 1992.

Stojnic said that, in the morning on August 21, indictee Petar Civcic ordered him to escort the convoy and his task was to ensure “uninterrupted passage and make sure that no problems or incidents would affect the convoy, transporting non-Serb civilians from Prijedor who wanted to leave the town”.

“I remember that Radoslav Knezevic transported me by a yellow minivan to Tukovi, but he went back to Prijedor after that. I saw many non-Serb civilians – more than one thousand. There were many escorts and maybe about ten buses. The civilians got on them voluntarily,” Stojnic said, adding that he did not see Civcic and Knezevic again on that day.

The State Prosecution charges Zecevic, Knezevic, Civcic, Ljepoja and Branko Topola with having escorted a convoy of more than 1,000 civilians, who were travelling from Prijedor to Travnik on August 21, 1992.

They allegedly separated and murdered about 200 men at Koricanske stijene.

According to the indictment, Civcic was Commander of the First Unit with the Interventions Squad of the Public Safety Station in Prijedor, Zecevic, Ljepoja and Knezevic were members of that Squad and Topola was member of the Territorial Defence.

Stojnic said that the convoy headed towards Travnik via Banja Luka, adding that civilians were robbed when the convoy stopped en route.

“The late Miroslav Paras, a Squad Commander, approached me and gave me a bag, telling me to order one of the passengers to take all valuable things away and collect them. I had to do that, because he had the authority. At the next stop Paras took the bag, but he was not satisfied so he yelled at me. He threatened the passenger, telling him to collect more valuables,” Stojnic said.

The indictment alleges that the indictees took money, jewelry and other valuables from the civilians in the convoy, while “threatening them by saying they would kill them”.

Stojnic said that, after a several-hour drive, the convoy was stopped in the vicinity of Ugar river, where “Paras separated a certain number of men, who were then loaded into two buses.” Stojnic explained that he did not see any of the five indictees at that place.

“I saw Paras, who was separating some people, and some members of our unit. When the convoy was supposed to depart, I was told to go to those two buses, because I had to help with an exchange. However, when I got there, Paras started yelling at me and he told me to go back. Then I continued the trip in another vehicle,” the witness said.

Stojnic told the Court that after a two-hour ride he arrived in Smetovi, near Travnik, where the civilians out of his vehicle, adding that he found out about the murder of the bus passengers two days later.

Responding to questions posed by Milan Vujin, Defence attorney for indictee Topola, Stojnic said that Topola was “absolutely not among the convoy escorts on that day”.

“There is no way I would have missed him, as we have known each other our whole life. I do not know why he is included in this case, because he had nothing to do with police,” he said.

The next hearing is due to take place on March 24 this year.