Zecevic et al: No Words to Describe Crime

 “I arrived in Kupres at about noon. My uncle Mitar told me that he had obtained my papers, so we went to his house to take them. We then went to a cafe for a drink. Luka Petrovic, whom we met on our way to the cafe, joined us. I stayed there until five or six p.m. and went back to Prijedor. When I came to the Station on the following day, I found out that our foolish colleagues had killed innocent people,” Civcic said. 

Besides Civcic, Sasa Zecevic, Radoslav Knezevic, Marinko Ljepoja and Branko Topola are charged with the murder of about 200 men, who had been separated from a convoy traveling from Prijedor to Travnik, committed at Koricanske stijene on August 21, 1992.

The State Prosecution’s indictment alleges that Civcic was Commander of the First Section with the Squad, while Zecevic, Knezevic and Ljepoja were members of that Squad. It further alleges that Topola was member of the Territorial Defence.

Civcic said that he accepted to be the leader of the convoy from which civilians were taken and killed, but he explained why it did not happen after all.

As Civcic said, the then Commander of “Prijedor 1” Police Station – Milutin Cadzo told the indictee to be the convoy leader and select the colleagues, who would take part in it, because members of the Interventions Squad, who had escorted an earlier convoy, robbed the civilians.

“I took the warrant and went to the premises of the Interventions Squad – First Section. Prior to going inside, I took the list and read the names of colleagues, who would escort the convoy. After I read the names, the situation became chaotic. A group of members complained because they wanted to go too. Miroslav Paras and Dado Mrdja came. Paras said: ‘Enough is enough. I will take the decision’. He told me that I would not be going with them,” indictee Civcic said.

Miroslav Paras, who was killed during the war, was Commander of the Interventions Squad. In 2004 The Hague Tribunal sentenced Mrdja, member of that Squad, to 17 years in prison for the murders committed at Koricanske stijene.

As he said, the indictee approached Cadzo and asked if he could get a police car to go to Kupres. Cadzo approved his request. Civcic said that, on the following day he found out what had happened at Koricanske stijene.

Civcic said that all members of the Interventions Squad went to Koricanske stijene in order to clean the area, but he did not say when it happened.

“There was a pile of corpses of the killed people. No writers, no words can describe that,” Civcic said, crying.

Indictee Civcic is due to continue testifying on October 6, 2011.

A.J.