No Order for Evacuation of Bosniaks from Visegrad

Witness Gina Krtinic, former communications officer with the Second Company of Visegrad Brigade of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, said that she did not receive an order, via communication means, for the evacuation of Bosniaks.

As she said, the Red Cross organised a convoy on June 14. Prior to that, a meeting attended by indictee Tasic and representatives of Bosniaks was held in a cafe in Bosanska Jagodina.

“They asked Company Commander Ljupko Tasic to escort them to the meeting point in Visegrad,” Krtinic said, testifying in defence of Tasic.

She explained that armed paramilitary units had disturbed Bosniaks before that, adding that this was the reason why they left their homes and asked to be escorted to the Visegrad downtown area, where buses waited for them.

She said that members of her Company were not able to oppose the paramilitary units, whose members “intruded” on Bosniak villages.

According to the witness’ testimony, Tasic did not say “what happened to those people afterwards”. As she said, she heard later on that some of them were killed.

The indictment alleges that Tasic, Predrag Milisavljevic and Milos Pantelic, who were accompanied by several other armed members of the Serbian Army and police, participated in forced resettlement of Bosniak civilians from Visegrad and several nearby villages to the territories controlled by the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This allegedly happened at a town square in Visegrad on June 14.

It is alleged that Bosniaks were forced to leave their homes.

According to the charges, Milisavljevic and Pantelic, former members of Visegrad police, participated in the murder of several tens of Bosniak civilians near the Paklenik pit, Sokolac municipality.

New witnesses are due to be examined on Tuesday, September 24.