How Sivac and Garibovic Were Taken
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Testifying before the District Court in Banja Luka, Emina Sivac said that after the war started she admitted 80 refugees into her home.
“I saw soldiers coming and I told Suad to hide, and he said he has no reason to run because he did nothing to no one. Soon soldiers arrived and they said they have to take him in for questioning. I gave him a jacket and that is the last I saw of him. Among the soldiers, I recognised Nisevic,“ said Emina Sivac.
She added that she would only like to be told where the bones of her son are.
Emina’s husband, Mehmed Sivac, also testified at this hearing saying that at the beginning of the war he was in Germany, but that his neighbour, Haso Icic, told him that Serb soldiers came by his house.
“They found Suad sitting on the stairs and they said he has to go with them. When he set off, mother brought him the jacket, but one of the soldiers said he did not need it, he is going in only for questioning. They also took Garibovic, who they found there. Icic told me that among the soldiers who went to my house there was Goran Nisevic, and that in front of my house stayed Milenko Beric,” said Mehmed Sivac.
He said that he knew both defendants well because they were neighbours and they grew up together.
“In 2004 I went to Nisevic’s house and begged him to tell me where the bones of my son are so that I could bury him and if he told me, I would not press charges against him. He said he did not know and asked me if I looked by the old mill,” said Sivac.
Nisevic and Beric are charged with taking Suad Sivac and Sulejman Garibovic on June 9, 1992, from Trnopolje near Prijedor and killed them in an undisclosed manner, after which their bodies have not been found to this day.
The District Prosecution also called Haso Icic, who said that on that day he saw Serb soldiers. He said that soldiers returned from Trnopolje leading Sivac and Garibovic, who were not tied or harassed.
“They paused for a couple of minutes in front of my house and then set off towards the railway tracks. I haven’t seen Suad since and on that day I didn’t hear shooting or shouting. I was in several camps but no one has seen Suad,” explained Icic.
He added that he never said that Nisevic and Beric killed Sivac and Garibovic, only that they were among the soldiers who took them.
The trial is set to resume on October 28.
