Kornjaca et al: Chaos in Cajnice

Muharem Kuvelija, who used to live in Miljeno village, near Cajnice with his family before the war, told the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina that roadblocks were put in Mostina, Cajnice municipality in late April 1992, adding that Bosniak civilians from that village were taken to informational interviews.
 
“While I was coming back from work in late April, they took me to an interview in the National Defence building in Cajnice. Upon my arrival I saw Milun Kornjaca and Milorad Zivkovic, whom I had known from before. The fact is that they did not mistreat me, but they were present when a person, whom I did not know, said that I should be called because I was a Muslim,” Kuvelija said.  
 
Witness Kuvelija said that, after the interview, he was free to go home. He said that, on the following day he went to Montenegro with his wife and sister-in-law, while his brother stayed in Cajnice.
 
“Two days later I found out that my brother was captured and detained in Mostina. I heard about his murder from media reports. Some years later the people, who had stayed in Cajnice, told me that Veljo Tadic and little Rus had killed him…I cannot remember Rus’s name, but I can see him in the courtroom today. I know that his last name is Tadic,” the witness said.
 
The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina charges Milun Kornjaca, Milorad Zivkovic, known as Zika, and Dusko Tadic, known as Rus, with the persecution of Bosniaks from 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, Tadic was member of that unit while Zivkovic was Chief of the Public Safety Station in Cajnice.
 
Separate trials of Kornjaca on one hand and Zivkovic and Tadic on the other are conducted before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but joint witnesses are examined at the same time due to the better efficiency of the proceedings.
 
Second Prosecution witness Ibrahim Pirija told the State Court that he remembered indictees Kornjaca and Zivkovic arresting Muslims in Cajnice, adding that he was 15 years old at the time.  
 
“I personally saw Kornjaca, who was accompanied by five other uniformed men, taking our neighbor Jusuf through my neighbourhood. I saw Zivkovic when Hajrudin, another neighbor of mine, was arrested. Of course, at that time I did not know what happened to them, but I found out that all those men were killed later on,” Pirija explained.
 
Pirija said that he and his sister left Cajnice and went to Macedonia in May 1992, adding that their mother joined them later on.
 
“As soon as we saw her, we knew that something was wrong.  She was crying. She kept saying that the situation in Cajnice was chaotic. My father was not there. I have only found out that he was taken to Mostina and most probably killed, but I have still not found him…” Pirija said.
 
Testifying at the hearing held today, witness Jasmina Doslo said that her brother was killed in Mostina in May 1992.
 
“While I was in Kraljevo, I learnt about the murder in Mostina while watching television. For a long time we did not know what had happened to my brother, but I recognised him while watching the footage. He was among the civilians who were killed in Mostina,” Doslo said.
 
The next hearing is due to be held on August 29, 2011.