Saric: Killed Husband’s Letter

Witness S-7 said that her husband and a group of neighbours from Nahorevo went to “offer resistance” on June 12, 1992. As she said, towards the end of 1991 he joined reserve police forces and had an automatic rifle.

S-7 said that, on that day or a few days later, women and children were invited via megaphone to come to the school building in Nahorevo, where she first briefly saw indictee Goran Saric.

“They transported us from the school building towards Nahorevska Hills. At that moment Saric appeared in a SUV. He told us to thank God, because he was there instead of somebody else,” the witness said.

As she said, they were returned home five hours later. She then found out that her husband was detained in Jagomir hospital.

“Nele and Cupi came to my door. They brought me a letter in which my husband told me not to worry and given them money for his release. A weapon certificate and his personal documents were enclosed with the letter,” the witness said.

She told the Court that she gave them the money, but she never saw her husband alive again.

“Nine of them were tied with wires and escorted to Skakavac, where they were killed. When we found their bodies, we saw diluent buckets,” S-7 said.

The indictment alleges that Saric, former Chief of the Public Safety Station in the Serb municipality of Centar in Sarajevo, ordered all men from Nahorevo neighbourhood to come to the local community premises on June 19, 1992. About 100 Bosniaks were then taken to the Jagomir hospital building and detained in it.

He is charged with having divided prisoners in Jagomir hospital into three groups on June 21, 1992. It is alleged that he formed a group of 60 prisoners, who were then forcibly transferred to the territories controlled by ABiH, another group of 26 Bosniaks, who were transferred to the Bunker detention camp in Vogosca, and a third group of 11 persons, who were killed at Skakavac, Sarajevo later on.

Witness S-7 said that all those who stayed in the neighbourhood, mostly women and children, were deported to territories controlled by the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, ABiH on June 19.

Following the examination of the witness, the Defence said that it had filed a custody release motion with the Trial Chamber, considering the fact that the last protected State Prosecution witness had been examined. The Court will render a decision at a later stage.

The trial is due to continue on November 19.
M.B.