Koricanske stijene: True and False Witnesses

Prosecutor Slavica Terzic said that it was proved beyond doubt that the former members of Prijedor police committed the crimes charged upon them, while the Defence of Babic and Skrbic said that the Prosecution did not prove its allegations.

“They accepted and wanted to realise the goal – the murder of those people,” the Prosecutor said.

The indictment alleges that Babic, Skrbic and Stojnic were members of the Interventions Squad with Prijedor police, while Jankovic was Commander of the regular Police Station.Under a first instance verdict, Jankovic was sentenced to 27, Babic and Skrbic to 22 years each and Stojnic to 15 years in prison. The Appellate Chamber revoked the verdict and ordered a retrial.

On the second day of presentation of her closing statement Terzic mentioned the role of Jankovic and Stojnic in escorting a convoy of Bosniak civilians, who were traveling from Prijedor towards Mount Vlasic on August 21, 1992. About 200 men were separated on Mount Vlasic and shot at Koricanske stijene location.

Prosecutor Terzic said that witnesses Luka Ignjatovic and Vitomir Lakic should be trusted. They said that Jankovic had the role of organiser and that they saw him at the location of separation.

Terzic said that most of the convoy escorts knew, prior to the convoy departure, that some civilians would be killed.

“All convoy escorts found out at the separation location at the latest that murders would be committed. At that point the murders became their joint goal,” she said.

Speaking about the role of indictee Stojnic, the Prosecutor said that statements by witnesses, who saw him at the crime scene, corresponded to each other.

Defence attorney Slavica Bajic said, in her closing statement, that the Prosecution witnesses, who claimed to have seen Babic among the convoy escorts, could not be trusted, particularly Gordan Djuric and Damir Ivankovic, who said that he was present at the location of shooting.

“Ivankovic’s testimony is unreliable, because he is inclined to changing his statements and cannot rely on his memories,” she said.

Bajic said that the Court should trust the statement given by Ljubisa Cetic, who named, during his testimony, some members of the Interventions Squad, who were present at the murder scene, but Babic was not among them. In his brief address the indictee said that the statements given by Djuric and Ivankovic were false.

Djuric, Ivankovic and Cetic were sentenced after having admitted their guilt.

Defence attorney Slobodan Peric said that Skrbic was among the convoy escorts, but he was not present at the shooting location nor participated in the robbing of civilians.

Analysing the evidence, he said that Skrbic was with civilians next to a broken bus when the murders were committed and that he stayed with them until the next day, when they were transferred by trucks to the territory controlled by the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He mentioned that Skrbic protected those civilians, when uniformed persons arrived.

“I did not kill or rob anybody. I saved passengers in that bus,” indictee Skrbic said.

Jankovic’s Defence is due to present its closing statement on January 24.
A.J.