Kovacevic: Husband and Three Sons Killed
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“Petar was killed on the road. Jovo was killed while I was holding him in my arms. Zemir killed him. Petar was telling me: ‘Protect me, mother’, but Zemir killed him with firearms. Milan and Vaso were killed in the courtyard, but I do not know who did it,” Zecevic said.
Zemir Kovacevic, former member of the Interventions Squad of the First Bosanski Brod Brigade, which later turned into the 101st Bosanski Brod Brigade of the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, is charged with having committed crimes in Sijekovac village, Bosanski Brod municipality in collaboration with unidentified members of the Croatian Defence Council, HVO and Croatian Army, HV.
According to the charges, Kovacevic participated in an attack on Sijekovac village. It is alleged that Kovacevic, who was accompanied by other individuals, took 15 people and four children out of their houses in Sijekovac. Some of them were then killed.
When asked where she knew indictee Zemir Kovacevic from, witness Zecevic said that she recognised the indictee after somebody had called him by his name, adding that she saw him hit her husband.
“Somebody called his name out and said: ‘Zemir, we are neighbours’. I saw him. He was beating my husband, whom I held by his hand. I heard and saw this. I was taking Jovo by his hand. He fell down. He was sick. Zemir just took a revolver from his pocket and put it on his forehead. He killed Jovo and left… I am a hundred percent sure,” Zecevic said, adding that she did not know whether there was more than one Zemir in Sijekovac.
The witness said that her son Branislav stayed alive, because he had driven away a wounded person from their street prior to the attack.
During the cross-examination indictee Kovacevic said that he had never seen the witness before.
When asked by the indictee if she was sure that she saw him in Sijekovac on March 26, 1992, witness Zecevic answered affirmatively, adding that she used to see him before the war and that she knew where his house was.
The trial is due to continue on August 29.
