Soldiers with Stockings on Heads in Hranca

Witness Rako Milosavljevic said that, “a couple of days before St. George’s Day, which is celebrated on May 6”, he received a task to go to Hranca village by bus, but he did not know why.

“I arrived in Hranca. I saw a group of soldiers with stockings on their heads and fingerless gloves, who told me ‘turn the bus around’,” Milosavljevic said.

He explained that he drove the bus to the end of the village, where indictee Mladjenovic’s house was. He said that he saw the indictee and a group of men at that place.

“As there was a road shoulder next to his house, they helped me turn the bus around, so I drove back to the village. I was scared when I saw what was going on,” the witness said.

He said that the soldiers then stopped him and told him to open the door.

“Two men with automatic guns entered through the front door, while male civilians were loaded onto the bus through the rear door. I felt horrible. They were insolent. They shouted,” the witness said.

He told the Court that he drove the civilians to Bratunac and that they left the bus, but he did not know where the soldiers took them.

The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina charges Najdan Mladjenovic with having led an attack on Hranca village on May 3, 1992, when several Bosniak civilians were killed and captured, and ordered others to set their houses on fire.

According to the Prosecution’s charges, six days later Mladjenovic led an attack on Glogova village and issued an order to kill more than 20 local Bosniak residents. He is charged under the same indictment as Savo Zivkovic, who is charged with having participated in the attacks and deportation of civilians from those villages, as well as the destruction of their property.
 
Ljubisav Ivanovic, who testified at this hearing, was mobilised by the Anti-reconnaissance Squad in Bratunac, which consisted of between 20 and 30 soldiers, in April 1992. 

Ivanovic said that he did not see indictee Mladjenovic in Bratunac on May 3 and 9, 1992.
“I did not see Najdan in the area in which I moved,” the witness said without providing an exact location. 
The Cantonal Prosecution in Tuzla previously examined Ivanovic, as a suspect, about the same crimes committed in Bratunac. At this hearing he testified in the presence of a legal counsellor.

The trial is due to continue on November 19.