Former Bosnian Serb Soldiers Killed Neighbours, Says Prosecution Witness

The witness, named Mevludin Medosevic, said that he managed to run away after his family had been abducted from their home by Milosav, Marijan and Slavko Jovanovic in June 1992.

Milosav, Marijan and Slavko Jovanovic have been charged with killing five Bosniak civilians in Medosevici in July, 1992. Two of them were killed with firearms, while one died from a beating to the chest. The indictment alleges that the defendants killed the children in the house by locking them inside and setting the house on fire.

The three defendants and Stevo Jovanovic are also with killing one person in Buckovici on June 4, 1992. According to the charges, all of them were members of the Third Podrinjska Light Infantry Brigade of the Army of Republika Srpska.

Medosevic said he saw his father, mother, sister and nieces for the last time on the day of the defendants’ alleged attack. His father, mother, and sister were exhumed about 150 meters away from the place from which he fled, Medosevic said, while the bodies of his nieces still haven’t been found.

“I made many inquiries in the surrounding villages. They told me, ‘those who arrested you did it.’ They said that they burnt the children inside the house and killed the parents,” Medosevic said.

Medosevic told the court that on the day of the attack him and his family were in a barn near their house. They were waiting for dark, so they could leave the village.

According to Medosevic, Jovanovic found and captured them. He said that the three defendants were accompanied by Goran and Mladen Jovanovic. The indictment alleges that the two men are now deceased.

“I know them very well. They were our closest neighbours. I have known them my whole life,” Medosevic said.

He said that the defendants asked them to hand their weapons over, but they did not have any. They also asked about his brother Avdo.

“My father said he didn’t know [with regards to Avdo]. Marjan then hit my father on the head with his fist. He knocked him down immediately,” Medosevic said.

According to the witness, they locked his sister’s children inside the house and took the four adults up a hill. Due to his father’s heart condition, they headed towards Omer’s field.

Medosevic said that they beat all of them and that Marijan Jovanovic was particularly brutal. He said that they hit his father on the chest several times. The witness mentioned that he thought about running away, because he “realized that they would kill them.”

“I cried for help. When they tried to stuff a cloth into my mouth, I managed to jump over a fence, roll down, and run away across Omer’s field,” Medosevic said.

The trial will continue on February 27, when the defense teams will cross-examine Medosevic.