Prosecution Witnesses Allegations in Contradiction with Indictment
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Witness Rifet Kadric, former Assistant Commander of the Police Station in Stupari, Kladanj municipality, said that it was not known to him that policemen brought the Serb population from the surrounding villages to Stupari.
Police went to villages, but I did not see that they brought anybody with them, the witness said.
The indictment alleges that police unlawfully detained the Serb population in the educational workers buildings in Stupari. According to the witness testimony, Serbs who had not moved out, began arriving in Stupari massively, asking for protection, because they did not feel safe in their houses due to combat activities.
Prosecutor Dragan Corlija said that the witness said, during the investigation, that indictee Safet Mujcinovic, the then Commander of the Police Station in Stupari, visited the villages, along with policemen, and invited Serbs to come to Stupari in order to make sure that they would not be killed by somebody.
I did not see that he brought them. Given the fact that he visited those places, I assumed that this was the reason why, the witness explained.
The indictment alleges that police unlawfully arrested Serb civilians under the excuse that they were doing it for the sake of their safety.
Prosecutor Corlija also said that, during the investigation the witness said that Safet decided, in agreement with somebody, to accommodate them in the educational workers buildings.
I may have said that, but I did not formulate the real happenings correctly, Kadric said.
He mentioned that he heard that civilian authorities decided to accommodate the Serbs somewhere. Later on those citizens were accommodated in the educational workers buildings, he said.
The witness said that some individuals were taken out in order to be examined about weapons. They were treated in a very correct manner, he said.
According to Kadrics testimony, indictee Kahro Vejzovic too treated people in a correct manner during examinations. The indictment alleges that Vejzovic, reserve policeman in Stupari, participated in the beating of detained Serbs, who were taken out in order to be examined.
Mujcinovic and Vejzovic are on trial, along with Selman Busnov, Nusret Muhic, Zijad Hamzic, Ramiz Halilovic, Nedzad Hodzic, Hariz Habibovic and Osman Gogic, former members of the Territorial Defence, as well as the military and civil police, for crimes committed in the Kladanj area.
Witness Kadric said that policemen guarded the educational workers buildings for the sake of safety of Serbs, who were accommodated in them. When asked by the Prosecutor whether any of them fled, the witness said that one of them walked away.
He was found and brought back so he would not get killed. It was done for the sake of his safety, the witness said.
As he said, the Serbs stayed in the educational workers buildings until the summer of 1993. He said that, in the meantime, they expressed a wish to go to the territories controlled by the Republika Srpska Army, VRS.
The situation was such that police could not make a decision for them to leave, Kadric said.
The trial is due to continue on May 30.
