Kornjaca et al: Victim’s Father Testifies

Witness Almas Gabela told the Court that on May 11, 1992, Milun Kornjaca told his son to surrender, threatening him by saying that otherwise he would send his men to arrest him.

“I advised my son to surrender. He did so. Kornjaca kept him in the hunters’ house, asking him to hand over weapons which he did not have. Serbs executed my son because he was allegedly armed, but that is not true. He was killed only because he was Muslim,” Gabela said, adding that his son was killed on May 19, 1992.

The witness said that while he was in Poland, he heard, via amateur radio operators, that Dusko and Veljo Tadic killed the Muslims in Mostina, where his son Fuad was held.

The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina charges Kornjaca, Tadic, known as Rus, and Milorad Zivkovic, known as Zika with the persecution of Bosniaks in the Cajnice area and the murder of 11 civilians in Mostina on May 19, 1992.

The indictment alleges that Kornjaca was Commander of the Plavi orlovi (Blue Eagles) paramilitary unit, Zivkovic was Chief of the Public Safety Station in Cajnice and Tadic was a member of “Plavi orlovi”.

The trials of Kornjaca and Zivkovic, and Tadic are conducted separately before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but joint witnesses are examined at the same time due to increase efficiency.

The witness recognised the indictees in the courtroom, saying that they were his pre-war neighbours. He said that he had never thought that they could do something like that to his son.

“How can you possibly believe that your neighbour will kill you? If they are humans, they should be ashamed to have done that. I would never be capable of doing that to them or their children,” the witness said.

Gabela said that he exhumed and reburied his son in 2002, after having identified him.

“He had three wounds in his head. The wounds were caused by bullets. Also, he had wounds caused by bursts of bullets on his chest. He had an injury on his face, underneath his eye, and two injuries on his skull,” Gabela said, adding that he last saw his son alive on May 16, 1992.

The witness said that his son was detained on May 11, but he visited him twice after having received a written permit from indictee Milun Kornjaca.

“I told my son both times that Kornjaca said that he had weapons, but my son denied having weapons. I remember having told him: ‘Fuad, give the weapons back to them and Milun will release you, or else he might not release you until the end of the war’,” Gabela recalled his last words to his son.

The witness said that, during his visit to his son, he saw Muslim detainees in Mostina. He said that they had visible injuries on their faces and hands, adding that he did not notice any injuries on his son’s body.

The trial is due to continue on May 16.