Zecevic et al: Soldier or Driver

During his testimony in November last year Kreic said that he drove a bus in the convoy travelling from Prijedor to Travnik on August 21, 1992, adding that indictee Ljepoja was an escort in that bus. As he said at that time, just after they passed Knezevo, the bus engine became overheated, so he stayed there with the indictee.

At this hearing State Prosecutor Slavica Terzic presented the witness with a document issued by the War Veterans and Disabled Soldiers Protection Section, which indicated that he performed his military duty from May 1992 to January 1993. The witness showed a document, confirming that he was engaged in the Army as of November 1992.

“On that day and in that period of time I was a driver with the Autotransport company. I guarantee you that I drove a bus in that convoy. I wish I had not done it, but the company ordered me to do it,” the witness said.

Kreic told the Court that he used to be on battlefields for a month, acting as a backup to the Army, but, on his return home, he would work for the company.

The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina charges Ljepoja, along with Sasa Zecevic, Radoslav Knezevic, Branko Topola 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.

The indictment alleges that Ljepoja, Zecevic, Knezevic and Civcic were members of the Interventions Squad of the Public Safety Station in Prijedor, while Topola was a guard in Trnopolje detention camp.

Two more Defence witnesses said that Kreic drove a bus in the convoy in August 1992 and that the bus broke down, but they were not able to specify the date.

Radoja Topic, former employee with Autotransport company, said that he drove a truck in the convoy to Travnik, adding that Kreic transported the civilians on that day but his bus broke down on a road just after he had passed Knezevo.

“Savo’s bus broke down. I saw that people got out of the bus and onto the truck. Policeman Paras asked him to move the bus, so the convoy could pass by. So, he drove another 100 metres and stopped on the side of the road. When we moved on, a policeman and Savo were standing next to the bus,” the witness said, adding that he did not see them on his way back.

Topic said that the civilians, who were in the convoy, reached their destination. He said that he did not hear about any problems.

Witness Milovan Djurdjijevic said that he was in the convoy when Kreic’s bus broke down.

“The passengers got onto my truck. Paras asked Savo to move the bus, so the convoy could move on. A uniformed policeman with an automatic gun stayed with Savo next to the bus,” the witness said.

As he said, he did not see the two men and the bus on his way back. While he was in Prijedor one day later, he heard that some convoy passengers had been killed.

In his statement given in November last year Kreic explained that he and Ljepoja stayed next to the bus for about 20 minutes, until the engine cooled. They returned to Prijedor after that.

The trial is due to continue on April 25 this year.
A.J.