Neighbours Killed Neighbours

“We used to gather at my place after the curfew, because we felt safer when we were together. There were 17 people in the house that night. We heard a noise and slamming at around 10 p.m. My husband wanted to open the door, but I stopped him and said that I would do it. I told him and our son to hide,” Draganovic said.

She said that she was so afraid that she could not unlock the door, adding that somebody hit the door from the outside, breaking the glass on it.

“I heard Ibrahum Kumalic, who came with the soldiers, saying: ‘Give them money. We will lose our lives’,” the witness said, testifying at the trial of four indictees, who are charged with crimes in the Kljuc area.

As she said, two soldiers entered the house and asked for money. They asked if Ibrahim Draganovic and his wife were there.

“They fired two bullets. One of them set the curtain on fire. I told them I did not have money. I gave them 500 Schillings. That was all I had. They said that it was not enough and asked me where my husband was. I took them to the sofa on which my husband was lying. When they pointed a flashlight towards him, they said: ‘Ah, that’s you. We don’t need you’. My son Almir was hidden underneath the sofa. We were in big fear. Then they took Ibrahim Draganovic and Nisvet Kicevic out of the room,” Draganovic said.

She said that Kicevic returned a short time later. They heard gunshots and cries, but they did not dare come out of the house.

“It was not until 8 a.m. on the following morning that we saw Ibrahim Draganovic lying dead at the entrance and Ibrahim Kumalic, known as Baja, in the yard. Military policemen and Mile Miljus, one of the soldiers from the checkpoint and my husband’s friend, came. He said that the Bajic brothers and Milan Lukic had passed by the checkpoint that night. I do not know who those soldiers were. I did not know the Bajic brothers, but I know Milan… He is a neighbour of ours. I did not see him that night,” the witness said.

She testified at the trial of brothers Predrag and Nenad Bajic, Mladenko Vrtunic and Slobodan Dragic, who are charged, as members of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, with having participated in murders, rape and inhumane treatment of people in Humici, Vojici and Pudin Han villages, Kljuc municipality, in 1992 and 1993.

Testifying at this hearing, witness Almir Draganovic said that he was hidden underneath a sofa that night. He said that he recognised Predrag Bajic by his voice.

“I often played football with Predrag, whom we called Gagi, before the war. He was the only one who spoke that night. I recognised his voice, but I did not dare say that to anybody,” the witness said.

As he said, Mile Miljus told him and his father that the Bajic brothers and Sinisa had committed those murders.

The trial is due to continue on February 4.