Driving Bodies of People Killed in Kotor-Varos

Protected witness KV- 6 said that he worked with a communal company in 1992 and that a terrain cleaning unit with that Company “removed people”, who were killed, in June 1992.

“On June 25 or 26 members of special forces – red berets – committed murders of people in front of the dispensary. I came in front of the gate by minivan … The corpses were loaded onto a truck driven by a man named Marko. They were covered with awning,” the witness said.

He specified that between 25 and 30 corpses were loaded on that truck.

As he said, the bodies of killed people were driven away under escort by special forces to a mosque in Donja Varos, where a loading machine came. A joint grave was dug and they were buried in it. He said that one more body was buried in that grave later on.

KV-6 said that the Terrain Cleaning Unit collected dead bodies later on. As he sad, they found two bodies on two occasions and five or six on another occasion, adding that an old woman was among them.

“We once found two corpses in River Vrbanja,” the witness said.

The witness said that, prior to these events, he was arrested on June 11 and that he was hit by a soldier in camouflage uniform, who, as he found out later, was named Ilija Kurusic.

“He hit me on my butt with an automatic rifle butt,” the witness said.

He explained that he found out what his name was from a man, who was a member of the same unit as Kurusic.

Ilija Kurusic is on trial, along with Savo Tepic, Dragoslav Bojic, Dusko Vujicic, Dusko Maksimovic and Radojko Keverovic, for crimes in Kotor-Varos.

They are charged with having participated in detention, torture and other types of inhumane treatment of Bosniaks and Croats in Kotor-Varos.

According to the charges, Tepic was Chief of the Public Safety Station, SJB, Bojic was Commander of the Police Station in Kotor-Varos, Vujicic was an active policeman, Maksimovic and Keverovic were reserve policemen, while Kurusic was a member of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS.

Second witness Nedzad A. said that he was arrested on Eid al-Adha on June 11, 1992 and taken to the Police Station, where he was beaten and sexually abused.

“They forced me to have oral intercourse with KV-7. Then we had to switch roles,” said the witness, who was held in the police building for three days.

The trial is due to continue on February 2.