This post is also available in: Bosnian
At today’s hearing of the Petar Kovacevic trial, defense witness Miroljub Babic said he’d heard that Mujo Gacko was killed by members of the paramilitary unit Bijeli Orvoli (English: White Eagles).
Babic told the court that nobody ever said that Kovacevic had murdered Gacko.
“I heard that Mujo Gacko got killed, that he was killed in the vicinity of his house…soldiers rumoured that the Bijeli Orlovi did it,” said Miroljub Babic.
The Bosnian state prosecution has charged Kovacevic, a former member of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS), with participating in the murder, rape, and unlawful arrest of civilians in Visegrad. His charges include the murder of Mujo Gacko in the village of Dobrun in May 1992.
When asked by defense attorney Petko Pavlovic whether he had heard that Kovacevic had raped women in Dobrun, Babic said that he had not heard about that either.
Babic said that Kovacevic kept watch on Drinska Street and did not give orders to other soldiers. Kovacevic had an ordinary rifle and that was dressed just like everybody else, said Babic.
When asked by prosecutor Dzevad Muratbegovic whether a VRS office was situated in Dobrun and whether people were detained in it, Babic said that he hadn’t heard about it.
Rade Totic, another defense witness, also said that he heard that Kovacevic was deployed to Drinska Street.
According to Totic, paramilitary formations and groups from Serbia and Montenegro caused big trouble for VRS forces stationed in Dobrun.
“Their activities mainly included things that were inappropriate for army members, like robbery, burning, mistreatment,” Totic explained.
Totic said he hadn’t heard that Mujo Gacko was killed by Kovacevic, and said that he didn’t know if the defendant had set fire to houses in the villages of Zanozje, Turjak, and Zlatnik.
According to the indictment, Kovacevic and a group of armed soldiers participated in an attack against the Bosniak population in Zlatnik, Turjak, and Zanozje. As a result of this attack, two civilians were killed by firearms, three civilians were burnt alive, and houses were set on fire with projectiles from firearms.
Defense witness Dobrica Jaksic said that he and Kovacevic were on the front line, and that he had no command responsibility at all.
“Kovacevic was in the unit in Drinska the whole time…he was there when I arrived in late May 1992,” he said.
The trial will continue on February 23.
