Witnesses Describe Disappearance of Prisoners of War in Gorazde

The district prosecution of Eastern Sarajevo has charged former Bosnian Army fighters Muhamed Adzem, Omer Ugljesa, Senad Halilovic, and Suljo Karkelja with participating in the murder of seven captured members of the Bosnian Serb Army in Gorazde in 1992.

According to the indictment, prisoners of war Tioslav Radovic, Bosko Lasica, Kojo Vukovic, Branislav Todorovic, Njegos Ceho, Budimir Todorovic, and Djoko Lasica were captured by the defendants on August 21, 1992. They were detained in the building of the Municipal Interior Secretariat (OSUP) in Gorazde. From there, they were taken to Ladjeva Stijena in the settlement of Kovaci, along the Drina River, where they were murdered.

At today’s hearing, witness Slavica Lukic said her late husband Budimir Todorovic, a member of the Bosnian Serb Army, went to his shift at a transmitter in Trovrh in August 1992 and never returned.

“After he left, he never came back,” Lukic said. She said the remains of her husband were exhumed in 2010.

Witness Stojan Ceho said he heard that his brother’s son Njegos Ceho, also a member of the Bosnian Serb Army, was captured in Trovrh and taken to Silos in Kopaci. He said he disappeared without a trace since.

Witness Sladjana Todorovic said she also heard that her husband Branislav Todorovic was captured at Trovrh, transferred to Silos in Kopaci, and then to the Municipal Interior Secretariat in Gorazde.

“My brother-in-law was found and buried, and as far as my husband goes, I still don’t know anything,” Todorovic said.

Todorovic said she had heard fifteen members of the Bosnian Serb Army had been captured on the date of the alleged crime, and that seven or eight didn’t survive.

“I want perpetrator of this crime to be found and answer for what he did,” Todorovic said.

The trial will continue on April 9.