Fleeing via Mount Kozara

Testifying about general circumstances related to an attack on Kozarusa village, Asim Besic said that the situation in that area became tense in March 1992. As he said, cannons were set on Patria Hill near Kozarusa, a tank was brought to Kozarac and barricades set towards Prijedor at that time.

“We heard shooting at night. The shooting came from all directions, including the houses of Dragan Koncar, Rade and Mitar Vlasenko,” the witness said.

As he said, the village could not be seen from indictee Koncar’s house, but the shooting could have come from a hill above his house.

The witness mentioned that all three indictees were his neighbours, but he had not seen them from the beginning of the attack onwards.

According to the charges, Mitar and Rade Vlasenko, as well as Drago Koncar, participated in the search of Bosniak houses in Kozarac, near Prijedor, on May 26, 1992. After that they took a group of civilians to Mitar Vlasenko’s house, where they were abused. The men from that group were then taken to Omarska, Trnopolje and Keraterm detention camps.

The three indictees are charged with having found a group of eight civilians, who were hiding inside a house, during a search in Kozarac on June 4, 1992 and killed those civilians.

Besic said that the beginning of the attack was marked by sirens and sounds of cannons, adding that the local residents then hid in a few houses that had basements.

“The attack continued until the morning. One of the local residents looked out of the basement and said: ‘Asim, your house is on fire’. I was totally lost,” Besic said, adding that he tried to extinguish the fire, but there was no water in the village.

He said that he went to Patria Hill in order to negotiate with them, but an unknown person hit him in his face with a rifle butt. They asked him to invite all local residents to surrender. He did that. Three men from the village went to Patria then.

The witness said that he looked for his family in the basements, but, as he was not able to find them, he went towards Mount Kozara. He then tried to flee to Croatia via Kozara together with a few other men. On their way they met columns of refugees.

“Some Serbs, who were dressed in plain military uniforms, stopped us on a pathway. They treated us in a correct manner. They offered brandy and cigarettes to us. Although I was not a smoker, I had a cigarette that day,” Besic said, adding that they were then taken to the Police Station in Dubica, where they were mistreated and beaten.

The witness said that he was transferred, along with the other captured men, to police in Prijedor and then to Omarska detention camp. Two months later he was transferred to Manjaca, where he spent five months.

Responding to a question by the Defence of indictee Koncar, witness Besic said that his parents told him that he helped them “arrive to Trnopolje detention camp safely” and that he did not allow soldiers to mistreat them. He said that he thanked him for that after the war.

The trial is due to continue on January 28.