Saric: Witness Says Defendant Was Station Commander

Danilo Trifkovic said that in 1992 he worked in a police station in the local community centre Pionirska Dolina, which was subsequently moved to the Jagomir hospital.

“Our superior officer in the station was Goran Saric, who was the commander of the station (…) I discerned his rank from talking to my colleagues. I concluded he may be the commander, because he was a deputy commander before the war,” said Trifkovic.

He added that he used to see Saric “constantly walking rounds to check up on his men” in Jagomir in 1992.

Goran Saric is charged, as the head of the police station in the Serb municipality Centre in Sarajevo, with ordering all men from Nahorevo to come to the community centre on June 19, 1992, after which around 100 Bosniaks were taken and imprisoned in the Jagomir hospital building.

According to the indictment, on June 21, 1992, Saric separated the prisoners into three groups. Sixty were taken by force to Sarajevo, 26 in the second group were transferred to the Bunker camp in Vogosca, while 11 from the third group were later killed at Skakavac in Sarajevo.

Zeljko Grujic, the second witness at this hearing, said that in May 1992 he worked in the police station located in the Jagomir hospital.

He said that his superior officer and the station commander was Slavko Milinkovic, adding that he did not know Saric’s official position, but that he did not think that Saric was subordinated to Commander Milinkovic.

“I had very little contact with Saric. On my assignment sI worked with Milinkovic,” said Grujic.

The trial will resume on October 22.