Krsmanovic: Murders on the River Drina
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Witness OK6 said that she was hiding at a cousin’s in Dusce village in Visegrad, along with her sister and small child, in June 1992, adding that, while she was standing in front of their house, she saw three soldiers going into the Varda factory and taking seven Bosniak men out.
“All seven of them had to stand in a circle. They were ordered to empty their pockets. A few minutes later they took them to River Drina, let them go into the river until the water was up to their knees. A soldier then fired a burst of bullets and killed all of them,” OK6 said.
As she said, she watched this while standing in front of the house, which was around 150 metres away from the Varda Factory.
“I did not know the three soldiers. I could not recognise them. While we were burying a neighbour of ours a couple of days later, I heard people saying to each other that Milan Lukic and Oliver Krsmanovic were among the soldiers, who came to the Varda Factory. I repeat that I did not know those men,” OK6 said.
The Hague Tribunal sentenced a first instance verdict against Milan Lukic, former leader of the “Beli orlovi” (“White Eagles”) paramilitary unit, sentencing him to life imprisonment.
Krsmanovic, former member of the Second Podrinje Light Infantry Brigade of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, is charged with having participated and assisted in murders, rape and forcible disappearances of the Bosniak population in Visegrad.
The indictment charges him with having assisted in the murder of six people, who had been taken away from the Varda Factory and killed on the River Drina on June 7, 1992. Besides that, he is charged with having set about 70 civilians in Meho Aljic’s house in Bikavac village on June 27. He allegedly did this in collaboration with Milan Lukic and others.
During the cross-examination Slavisa Prodanovic, Defence attorney of indictee Krsmanovic, asked the witness why she failed to mention any names of soldiers in her statement given to the State Investigation and Protection Agency, SIPA in 2006. Witness OK6 said that her statement from 2006 did not refer to Oliver Krsmanovic, but some other indictees.
The trial is due to continue on September 4, 2012.
