Witnesses Describe Attack on Civilian Convoy in Sastavci

Gavrilovic is testifying at the trial of former Bosniak fighters Muhamed Sisic, Emir Drakovac, Aziz Susa, and Tarik Sisic. They are accused of participating in an attack on a convoy filled with civilians on August 27, 1992. As a result of the attack, at least 21 Bosnian Serb civilians were killed and several more were wounded.

According to the charges, Muhamed Sisic was the commander of the Commando Squad of the Kukavicka Company, while the other defendants were members of that unit.

In her testimony, Gavrilovic said that her husband had been killed during an attack on their hometown of Jabuka. After his burial, she left the town with other civilians on August 27, 1992.

“There were many people, trucks, buses. I was in a truck cabin with two other women. My son was driving,” Gavrilovic said.

Responding to a question by Muhamed Sisic’s defense attorney, Gavrilovic denied that her son was a military conscript.

Gavrilovic said that the convoy was moving towards Rogatica and that she began to hear shooting when they arrived to the village of Sastavci.

“I saw a horror scene. It seemed to me that the shooting made the asphalt burn. I saw a man come down from a cliff, stepping on a flat stone. He wore many bandoleers. He was blonde. He opened fire,” Gavrilovic said, adding that the attacker was uniformed.

Gavrilovic said that she was wounded and that one man in their truck got killed.

“No wonder someone got killed. It’s a miracle that anybody stayed alive,” she said.

At the same hearing, witness Tonka Vukovic said that her husband stayed on the frontline at Jabuka, while she joined the convoy moving towards Rogatica with her daughter and mother-in-law. A neighbour, who also happened to be a soldier, advised them to get on the convoy.

Vukovic said that she and her daughter Snjezana were wounded when the convoy was attacked.

“The awning was half-way lifted. There was dust. Bullet capsules hit the asphalt…I didn’t see anybody,” Vukovic said.

Risto Subotic, another prosecution witness, said he found out that his sister was killed and his mother was wounded on the same convoy journey. He heard about the attack upon his arrival to a battlefield in Varosiste, near Rogatica. His mother died in Pale later on.

The trial will continue on March 3, when three new prosecution witnesses are expected to testify.