Burst Fire Opened Towards Old Ladies

Witness Seho Macic, indictee Ibro Macic’s cousin, told the Court that he found himself in Grusce village at the beginning of the Bosnian war. As per an order by Midhat Pirkic, known as Midke, he and about 17 other members of the Konjic Territorial Defence, TO, went to River Rakitnica canyon in order to conduct a military operation.

“We came to Blace plateau. The village was destroyed. There were many cattle. We sat next to a well in order to have breakfast,” Macic said.

 He told the Court that, members of the Croatian Defence Council, HOS, arrived soon. They belonged to the so-called “Garo’s team”. According to the witness’ testimony, one of those soldiers killed an old lady, who was sitting in the garden.

“After that Ibro Macic and Ramo Brkan approached us. They told us that living Chetniks, grandmas were present in the village,” Mcic said, adding that he headed towards “a house with flat roof” in order to see them himself.

The witness said that, when he entered the hallway, he saw Osman Brkan standing in the right corner and “opening burst fire in semi-circles” from his automatic gun towards the place, where old ladies lied underneath a blanket.

He did not know whether the old ladies were killed. As he said, he did not hear screaming either. He could not remember how many old ladies he saw.

“My brother Salko Macic, Ibro Macic and Ramo Brkan stood in the left corner of the room. (…) While I was in the room, nobody else was shooting,” witness Macic explained.

Osman Brkan and Ibro Macic, former members of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, ABiH, are charged with having killed four Serb old women in Blace village in June 1992. According to the charges, Macic began shooting and Brkan did the same after that. The bodies of the killed women have still not been found.

Seho Macic said that he left Blace together with some other men, while some others stayed in the village. He said that he did not see smoke while he was in the village, but that everybody was shooting “in the air”.

He explained the difference between his previous statement given to the State Investigation and Protection Agency, SIPA, and his testimony at the trial. As said by Prosecutor Sanja Jukic, in his statement the witness did not mention Osman Brkan and him shooting towards the old ladies.

“What I have said today is true. I could no longer live in lies, so I called you and told you everything,” Macic said, adding that he felt relieved, but he still felt sorry due to the events that took place in Blace.