Karadzic: Cleaning the area

A former Serb police office, who worked in the summer of 1992 in the Penal and Correctional facility Kula near Sarajevo, said at the trial of Radovan Karadzic that the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) and Serb paramilitary forces “cleansed the area” near the western part of Sarajevo , and detained civilians in Kula.

The witness, who gave testimony under the alias KDZ 601 – with his voice and face concealed – said that civilians were brought to Kula by members of the “special JNA unit”, “White eagles”, “Oljaca’s Chetniks”, units under the command of Branislav Gavrilovc and armed members of the paramilitary unit led by Zeljko Raznatovic “Arkan”.
 
“Every one of those groups brought back men from one area when they returned from fighting. They called these attacks ‘cleansing areas’. After the civilians passed through the procedure, they were separated and sent to different locations, mostly to be exchanged”, said KDZ 601.
 
According to the witness, prisoners were questioned by “authorized personnel” of the Serb police and security agency, as well as members of the JNA military police.
 
Karadzic is charged with the persecution of Bosniaks and Croats from 20 municipalities across Bosnia and Herzegovina, including the Sarajevo municipalities of Hadzici, Ilidza and New Sarajevo. He is also charged with genocide in Srebrenica and eight other municipalities, and terrorising civilians and taking international hostages.
 
KDZ-601 confirmed that after an attack by Serb forces on the village of Ahatovici, near Sarajevo in June 1992, civilians from that village were brought to Kula in “10 or 12 buses”. The witness added that the civilians were then sent to Lukavica.
 
“They were Bosniaks and they were followed by military police and police”, added the witness.
 
According to the witness, “Oljaca’s Chetniks”, the Teritorial defence Ilidza battalion and reserve police officers took part in the attack on the village. The witness added that he heard from colleagues that Branislav ‘Brne’ Gavrilovic’s men killed 47 men from Ahatovici in a bus near Sokolina on the 14th of June, 1992.
 
“Oljaca’s Chetniks”, added the witness, were based “in houses of Bosniak families who were deported from Kotorac and Gojkovichi in Ilidza municipality”. Witness KDZ 601 said he saw Oljaca in Kula “wearing a black uniform and star on his hat” and he presented himself as a “major in the Chetnik movement”.
 
“I was told he came from Valjevo in Serbia , and he stayed in Kula even after I left”, said the witness. KDZ-601 also said that the special JNA unit “cleaned” the Kotorac village, and that the attack was led by “major Sladoja”.
 
During cross examination, Karadzic suggested that the term “cleansing areas” was used by the military to explain “attacks against enemy forces”. The witness agreed this was a very common expression, but added: “All the people in a neighbourhood were detained, even women and children”.  
 
The witness said that it was true the main board in Kula prison displayed an order by then Republika Srpska minister for Interior Mico Stanisic, that all detainees should be treated under international conventions. Stanisic is charged before The Hague tribunal for crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and his trial is ongoing.
 
The trial of Karadzic will continue on September 12.

R.M.