Jevic et al: No Opportunity to Commit Murders
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“No members of my Squad said that they had killed anyone. They did not even have an opportunity to commit murders,” Przulj said, testifying in defence of indictee Nedjo Ikonic.
According to the charges filed by the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina,members of the of the “Jahorina” Training Centre of MUP of Republika Srpska, participated, as per an order by and under the supervision of Dusko Jevic,
Mendeljev Djuric, Goran Markovic and Nedjo Ikonic, in the capture of several thousand Bosniak men on July 12 and 13, 1995.
The indictment alleges that they kept the prisoners on a meadow in Sandici before taking them to various locations, including the warehouse in Kravica,Bratunac municipality, where they took part in the shooting of more than 1,000 men.
The Prosecution alleges that Jevic was Commander of the “Jahorina” Training Centre, Djuric and Ikonic were Company Commanders with that Centre and Markovic was Commander of a Squad with the First Company in the mentioned period of time.
During the course of his testimony Przulj said that they received a note, saying that members of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina were moving through the woods in the vicinity of the road to which he was deployed and an attack could be expected. As he said, the attack never happened.
State Prosecutor Ibro Bulic asked the witness if he “knew anything about the men, who were moving through the woods”, but the witness said he did not.
According to the charges, members of the First and Second Company with the “Jahorina” Training Centre captured Bosniaks in the woods above the road leading from Bratunac to Konjevic polje, as per an order given by Ikonic,and took them to a warehouse at the crossroads in Konjevic polje, where they executed them.
“I was member of the Second Company. Nedjo Ikonic was our commander. (…) Nedjo did not give tasks to us while we were in the field,” the witness said.
The witness told the Court that he stayed in the field, together with other members of his Company, for about seven days, but they did not perform any tasks in Sandici or Kravica. He said that nobody asked for volunteers to search the area. He explained that he heard that some people had been captured a bit farther from the part of the road which he guarded, adding that he also heard that they had surrendered.
The trial is due to continue on September 5 this year.
