Planincic et al: Bullet Spree
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Dalibor Serdar, witness of the Prosecution, said before the State Court that in June 1992, the inhabitants of Serdari hamlet organised guard shifts every night. As he explained, the main guard post was set in front of the barn near the house, where a lightning rod is made and the villagers rotated to serve as guard.
According to the witness, he finished his guard and went to the barn to rest and sleep on September 16, 1992. At dawn, he was awoken by the bursts of gunfire.
Shooting was all around us. I saw a friend Nikola Dukic who shouted: They attacked us, they attacked us!. He was wounded in his right hand, and I just wanted to go home to see what happened to my family, said the witness.
In continuation of his testimony, Serdar said that on the way to his house bullets raged around him, but that the enemy soldiers had not yet arrived there. As he said, that night, apart from his father, mother and sister, his neighbours and several children were in the house.
I knew that I must somehow get out of the village to the positions of the Serb army and seek for help. I went in the direction of Oric hill when a bullet spree showered down on me. At that moment I just lay on the ground and saw my mother shouting from the window of the house they killed my son!, said Serdar, adding that at that time he continued to crawl on the ground, from where he hid in the tall grass and reached Sakani hamlet.
According to the charges, 16 Serb civilians were killed in Serdari village during an attack conducted on September 17, 1992. Fikret Planincic, Rasim Lisancic and Sead Menzil are on trial for participating in that attack, The indictment alleges that they were members of the Territorial Defence in Kotor-Varos.
Considering the fact that Mirsad Vatrac is also charged with that same crime in Serdari village, the Trial Chamber decided to merge his case with the case of Planincic, Lisancic and Menzil.
According to Serdar testimony, after a few hours he came back to the village, where he found out that 16 villagers were killed that morning.
Everything is burning. Houses, barns, animals….and even the burned horse ran through the village…. At that time, I did not know what happened to my family, but I saw that there was no one there anymore. After two days I met them … they all fled in the direction of our territories and thus survived, said Serdar.
According to his testimony, both then and even now he does not know who committed the attack on the village.
After this event, nothing is the same in my life … When you live to see the day when in half an hour nearly all the friends and relatives with whom I grew up were killed, then it can no longer be the same. Thank God, my family was not killed, but … nothing is the same anymore!, explained Serdar.
Simo Tepic, witness of the Prosecution, lost his wife and two young daughters in the attack on Serdari village.
As he said, his wife and children were at his brothers house in Serdari village and stayed there overnight. Tepic, as a member of the KotorVaros Light Brigade, was securing the bridge Stisla, near Serdari.
That morning I lost my wife and two girls. One was 12, and another four years old. I did not go to Serdari that morning. I never even went to identify them. I just could not. Simply, I did not have enough courage, said Tepic, adding that he never knew who committed the attack on the village.
The continuation of the trial is scheduled for January 26, this year.D.E.
