Jevic et al: Capturing Men

“We were told to guard the road, because some people might surrender and we could be attacked. About 20 people surrendered. Most of them were dressed in civil suits. Sladoje told us to inform him about it, check and tie the prisoners, if need be. We tied those who were dressed in uniforms,” the witness said.

Sehovac said that Radovan Sladoje was Commander of the Squad, whose member he was. As said by Sehovac, Sladoje went to the field with them, while Ikonic did not do it “that often”.

The witness said that prisoners were sent towards Konjevic polje. The prisoners were allegedly told that they would be exchanged. According to his estimates, a total of about 150 people surrendered.

Ikonic is on trial with Dusko Jevic, Mendeljev Djuric and Goran Markovic for having participated in the forcible resettlement of the Bosniak population from Srebrenica area and the murder of about 1,000 men in Kravica.

The indictment alleges that Jevic was Commander of the Jahorina Training Centre with the Special Brigade of the Republika Srpska police, Djuric and Ikonic were company commanders and Markovic was commander of one of the squads.
Sehovac confirmed that they participated in the search of one part of a forest one day prior to their departure, but they did not find anybody.

The examination of witness Jelenko Kljajic, former member of that unit, was completed at this hearing. At a hearing held on September 26 the witness gave up on one part of his statement, saying that State Investigation and Protection Agency, SIPA investigators suggested to him what to say.

In response to his allegations, the Defence and Prosecution presented the witness with parts of an audio recording taken during his second examination, when he was asked whether he stuck by his original statement.

According to the part of the audio recording presented by Ikonic’s Defence attorney Nenad Grubez, Kljajiv said that he did not go to the cross-roads in Konjevic polje, where, as alleged under his statement, Bosniak prisoners had been brought. He said that the investigator told him that Ikonic asked for volunteers.

The parts of the recording presented by the Prosecutor indicate that the witness confirmed the allegations contained in his original statement, saying that the prisoners were escorted to Konjevic polje and driven away. In that statement he further said that Ikonic asked for volunteers, who, as he learned later on, participated in the killing.

The witness denied these allegations, saying that, at that moment he only thought about the allegations by the SIPA investigator, who told him to stick by his original statement and he would help him.

The trial is due to continue on Tuesday, October 11.