Peric et al: Gathering Elderly Residents

Witness Zlatka Cukurija told the Court that in late July 1992, members of the Army and police, including indictees Terzic and Aleksandar Cerovina, came to Vihovici village and took the village’s male residents to “Barutni magacin” (“Gunpowder Depot”) in Kalinovik municipality.

“Terzic said we should call the men who were in the village. I went to a nearby field in order to bring my father. Terzic came with me. On my way to the field, I saw a few men running away. Terzic told them to come back, but they continued running. He then fired a burst of bullets. They stopped,” witness Cukurija said, adding that she did not know in which direction the indictee fired the bullets, but the men came to the location where the other men had gathered.

Witness Cukurija said that she had known indictee Terzic from before the war, adding that he loaded her father into a vehicle. The witness said that, on the following day all men, including her father, were taken to “Barutni magacin”.

“My father’s body was exhumed in Miljevina,” the witness, but she did not say when he was killed.

Cukurija recalled the moment when indictee Terzic took Hasna Kurtovic’s son from her arms, adding that her son was taken to “Barutni magacin” with the other men.

The State Prosecution charges Terzic, Milan Peric, Spasoje Doder and Aleksandar Cerovina with crimes committed in Kalinovik. The indictment alleges that in 1992, the former members of the Public Safety Station in Kalinovik participated in the unlawful arrest of civilians, whom they took to the Miladin Radojevic school building and Barutni magacin detention camp, where most of the detainees were killed.

Witness Cukurija said that her two brothers Suvad and Edin were told to come to the municipality building in Kalinovik in June 1992, adding that they were then detained in the Miladin Radojevic school building and transferred to “Barutni magacin” some time later.

“The two of them are registered as missing,” the witness said.

Second Prosecution witness Dika Suljic said that indictees Terzic and Cerovina were in Vihovici village together with soldiers and policemen who came to “arrest the elderly” in late July 1992.

“I saw Terzic bringing my father-in-law Fehim from our land, where he was cutting hay, to the place in the village where they gathered all the men. He was standing in front of a truck, reading the first and last names of those people. All of them were taken away. When we asked them where they were taking those men, Terzic said they were going to ‘Barutni magacin’ and they would be safe,” witness Suljic said.

Witness Suljic told the Court that her husband Remzo, son Elvir and brother-in-law Ramiz were taken to the Miladin Radojevic school building on June 25, 1992, adding that they were transferred to “Barutni magacin” seven days later. The witness said that they were taken away from “Barutni magacin on August 5, 1992 and then killed.

Fatima Suljic, who also testified for the Prosecution at this hearing, said that a person whose last name was Terzic and whose first name she did not know, was among the soldiers and policemen who took the elderly residents of Vihovici village away in late July 1992.

“Terzic had a list of people who should be arrested,” the witness said, adding that the elderly were taken from the village to “Barutni magacin”.

Witness Suljic said that her husband Sado and brother-in-law Sevdo were detained in the Miladin Radojevic school building on June 25, adding that they were transferred to “Barutni magacin” at the beginning of August.

“All of them were killed. My father-in-law was the only one who has been found,” the witness said.

The trial is due to continue on May 24.

A.J.