Local Justice Tanasic and Boroja: Cries in Front of Police Station
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Bosko Misic, former Shift Leader at the Obilicevo Police Station, Banja Luka, said that he was on duty on September 19, 1995, when he heard cries and screams in front of the police station.
When I went out, I saw a white VW Golf with police signs on it parked across the street from the station. I saw two policeman putting a man into it, but I did not notice any injuries on his body. When I asked them what was happening, they said he had fled and they managed to catch him. I then turned around and went back to the station, Misic said.
Misic said that on the same day a woman who lived across the street came to the station and said that a woman was lying near a fence near her house, crying for help.
I went out, but I could not hear anything. A man, who had some rank marks on his uniform, approached me from my left side. He said that he was Commander of police in Srbobran, Donji Vakuf municipality, adding that this was their case. I did not see the VW Golf at that time. I went back to the station, Misic said.
The indictment filed by the District Prosecution in Banja Luka charges Tanasic and Boroja with having killed Nazifa Somic and having tried to kill her son on September 19, 1995.
The indictment alleges that Tanasic and Boroja came to Somic’s house in Banja Luka, took Muharem out and drove him, while hitting him, to Vrbanja, where they dumped him out of the car, thinking that he was dead. The District Prosecution further alleges that they then went back to Somic’s house and drove Nazifa away in an unknown direction and killed her.
Second Defence witness Gordana Skoric told the Court that she heard a woman screaming in front of her house and saw a white VW Golf on September 19, 1995. Skoric said that some time later Muharem Somic, who had blood stains on his body, knocked on her door.
He had a glass of brandy and went back home. Before that, he asked me if his mother was there. On the following day my neighbour and I visited some collection centres to try and find his mother, but we did not find her, Skoric said.
Third Defence witness Radivoje Radisa, an expert with the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Republika Srpska, said that on September 25, 1995, he received the fingerprints of an unidentified deceased woman and he was asked to compare it with Nazifa Somic’s fingerprints filed in her personal identification records.
After having compared the fingerprints, I determined that they undoubtedly belonged to two different women, Radisa said.
Boro Stojakovic, former member of the Police Station in Obilicevo, was also examined at this hearing. He said that he was not on duty on September 19, 1995, adding that he heard about this case later on.
The next hearing is due to take place on May 20.G.O.———————————————————————————————————-This article is made possible by the support of the American People through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID.) The contents of this article are the sole responsibility of Balkan investigative reporting network (BIRN) and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.
