Zecevic et al: Witness Denies Topola’s Allegations

Witness Sead Masic, who used to work as a veterinarian in Prijedor, recalled “an unpleasant visit” that happened about ten days after his release from prison at the beginning of August 1992. As he said, an unknown man came to his house and asked him to perform surgery on his dog.

“An armed person, who was dressed in camouflage uniform, came and told me that I had to do it. I could not perform the surgery in my house. The guy did not bring the dog with him,” Masic said, denying Topola’s allegations that he and his colleague brought a dog to his house to have its ears cropped.

The witness agreed with Topola’s description of the house, except for the part saying that there was a table in the attic, where, according to the indictee, he performed the cropping of the dog’s ears.

Testifying in his defence in October last year, Topola denied the State Prosecution’s allegations that he participated in the murders at Koricanske stijene on August 21, 1992, saying that he visited witness Masic due to a surgery on his dog.

Masic said that, following the visit by the armed man, he contacted the veterinary station, from which he had previously been fired, because, as he said, he was a Muslim, and made an arrangement for the surgery, which was performed later on.

The witness, who was detained in Omarska detention camp from late May to the first half of August, could not remember the date when the surgery was performed.

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 that was traveling from Prijedor to Travnik on August 21, 1992, and the murder of 200 men at Koricanske stijene.

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

The trial is due to continue on April 18 this year.
A.J.