Witness Heard of Civilian Convoy Attack on Television

Stavnjak testified at the trial of former Bosnian Army members Muhamed Sisic, Emir Drakovac, Aziz Susa and Tarik Sisic. The defendants are on trial for having participated in an attack on a civilian convoy carrying Bosnian Serbs in Gorazde. At least 21 civilians were killed and several more were wounded.

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

Stavnjak, himself a former member of the Bosnian Serb Army, said that Serb women, children, and the elderly joined a convoy that traveled from the municipality of Gorazde to Rogatica on August 27, 1992.

Stavnjak said he took another road to Rogatica, where he arrived on the following day. He said he had heard that the convoy had been intercepted and people killed. He said he went to the crime scene a little over a month later in order to evacuate his parents’ bodies and bury them.

“I saw a horror scene. The bodies could no longer be recognized. I identified them by their clothes and personal documents,” Stavnjak said.

Stavnjak said he thought the bodies had been robbed, because he found no money on his father’s person, who had been carrying 5000 German Marks at the time.

Krstinja Todorovic, the second prosecution witness, said that her husband was killed in the same convoy. She said that she travelled from Gorazde to Foca in July 1992. She said she had sent her children to Foca. She had no information about her husband until she saw TV footage about the attack on the convoy.

“I recognized my husband. He was lying next to a car,” she said. She said she went to Kukavice later on to claim her husband’s body.

The trial will continue on March 17.