Zecevic et al: Murders Committed as Per Order

Testifying in a separate cabin, under the pseudonym of KR1, a former detainee in Trnopolje detention camp, near Prijedor, said that he used to see Topola in the detention camp and that he was a guard. Speaking about August 21, 1992, the witness said that three buses arrived in front of the detention camp. He said he was among the civilians, who got on those buses.

“Topola was present, when the convoy was formed in front of Trnopolje detention camp. As I was getting on the bus, I saw him there. I do not know what happened to him after that,” the protected witness said.

While testifying in his defence in October 2011, indictee Topola said that he was not present when the convoy was organised on August 21, 1992.

Describing Topola, the protected witness said that he was short, dark-haired and chubby. He recognised him in the courtroom, after having seen the indictees and their Defence attorneys on a monitor.

The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina charges Topola, Sasa Zecevic, Radoslav Knezevic, Marinko Ljepoja and Petar Civcic with having participated in the separation of civilians from a convoy travelling from Prijedor to Travnik on August 21, 1992, and the murder of 200 men at Koricanske stijene, Mount Vlasic.

The indictment alleges that Topola was a guard in Trnopolje, while the other indictees were members of the Public Safety Station in Prijedor.

Second Prosecution witness Velimir Vrabicic said that he spoke to indictee Civcic about the murders at Koricanske stijene after the war.

“Pero said that the murders were ordered,” Vrabicic said, but he did not explain who issued the order.

Witness Vrabicic testified for the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina in March 2010.

The trial is due to continue on March 29 this year.A.J.