Koricanske stijene: Killing Convoy Passengers

Witness Radoslav Knezevic told the Court that he was tasked with transporting members of the Interventions Squad of the Public Safety Station in Prijedor to Tukovi and Trnopolje, from which convoys of non-Serbs departed on August 21, 1992.

“On that day Miroslav Paras told us about a big convoy, which was due to depart from two locations. I was tasked with driving members of the Interventions Squad to Tukovi. When I finished that, I drove a group of guys to Trnopolje,” said Knezevic, testifying in defence of indictee Zoran Babic.

Knezevic, former member of the Interventions Squad of Prijedor police, was sentenced, under a first instance verdict pronounced at another trial, to 23 years in prison for crimes committed at Koricanske stijene. Miroslav Paras, Commander of the Interventions Squad, was killed during the war.

The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina charges Zoran Babic, Milorad Skrbic, Dusan Jankovic and Zeljko Stojnic, former members of the Public Safety Station in Prijedor, with the murder of more than 150 men at Koricanske stijene on Mount Vlasic on August 21, 1992.

Under a first instance verdict, Jankovic was sentenced to 27 years in prison, Babic and Skrbic to 22 years each and Stojnic to 15 years. The Appellate Chamber revoked the verdict and ordered a retrial.

Witness Knezevic said that he did not see Babic in Trnopolje, adding that he found about “the killing of convoy passengers” later on.

“I found out, later on, that convoy passengers were killed. However, the whole thing was kept secret, so I did not ask about it,” Knezevic said.

Rade Konta, who used to work at a checkpoint in the vicinity of Tukovi, testified in defence of indictee Jankovic at this hearing. He said that the convoy passed by the check-point on August 21, 1992.

When asked by the Defence whether he saw Jankovic at the checkpoint on that day, witness Konta answered negatively.
Witness Cvijo Maric, former chief of a shift with the Police Station in Prijedor, said that, as far as he knew, “Dusan Jankovic did not escort the convoy” in August 1992.

“I remember the August 1992 convoy, because I was in the afternoon shift on that day. I heard that a problem happened at Koricani. Military investigators questioned me about it,” Maric said.

The next hearing is due to be held on October 22.