Blood on Soldier’s Face

Witness Fahrija Mutapcic said that situation in the village of Dobrun near Visegrad was “tensed” in the spring of 1992 and that men were hiding in the nearby woods.

According to her, she found out from her neighbors in late May in 1992 that her brother was killed, and her father Islam Kustura also told her that.

“My father told me they were in the house in Zlatnik. My father, my mother and my brother Ibro, and Ahmed and Salko Mutapcic were there. When army came they recognized Petar Kovacevic and some from Savic family. They took them all for questioning. Those Savic people took Ahmet and Ibro a little further by the stream to examine them and we heard a gunshot. Petar told my father they didn’t want to answer some question. After that he told my father and Salko to go away and that he will shoot over their heads. That is how my father left,” Fahrija Mutapcic said.

Witness added that she later heard that Bosniak houses in Dobrun were also burned.

Former Bosnian Serb soldier Kovacevic is charged with crimes in Visegrad area.

The indictment alleges that Kovacevic participated in the attack on Bosniak villages Zlatnik, Turjak and Zanozje in Visegrad municipality on May 27 1992, after which he was present during murders of the civilians Ahmet Mutapcic and Ibro Kutura at the village of Zlatnik.

Prosecution witness Mirsada Mutapcic also testified at this hearing. She said that she found out from her father-in-law that her husband Ahmet was killed in the village Zlatnik in late May 1992.

According to her statement, her husband Ahmed came to Zlatnik on May 27, after Serbian forces shelled that village because he wanted to check on his parents and he never came back.

She said that she found out from her father-in-law Salko Mutapcic in mid-July that her husband was murdered by Serbian soldiers.

“Salko said that group of soldiers including Petar Kovacevic, his son Nikola and some Pejovic came. They ordered to release the cattle and burned the stables. They examined them a bit away from there. There was one man who they called “Doctor”. That doctor took Ahmet first, then Ibro and then a shot was fired. After doctor came back, my father-in-law saw blood on his face,” Miranda Mutapcic said, noting that Petar told Salko and Islam to leave and he will shot over their heads.

Mutapcic testified that her father-in-law walked by Ahmet’s body while running away, and that he buried him a few days later.

Kovacevic’s defence attorney Petko Pavlovic requested postponing cross-examination of these witnesses considering that they testified “more than the record of the investigation,” and that he didn’t get their previous statements. The Trial Chamber accepted this request.

Trial continues on November 17.