267 Years in Prison for Murders in Kravica

The Bosnian state court found former members of the Jahorina Training Center and police from the Sekovici Special Brigade of Republika Srpska guilty of the mass killing.

The longest sentence, 32 years, was imposed on Dusko Jevic. Jevic was the commander of the Jahorina Training Center with the Special Brigade of Republika Srpska when the execution of Srebrenica residents took place.

Jevic and nine other former members of the above formation were sentenced for their involvement in the genocide.They are Milenko Trifunovic, Brane Dzinic, Aleksandar Radovanovic, Slobodan Jakovljevic, Branislav Medan, Petar Mitrovic, Radomir Vukovic, Mendeljev Djuric, and Zeljko Ivanovic.

The participation of four other defendants, namely Vaso Todorovic, Milivoje Cirkovic, Zoran Kusic and Bozidar Kuvelja, in the Srebrenica killings in Kravica was classified as a crime against humanity.

The killings at Kravica took place on July 13 and 14, 1995. Haso Hasanovic survived the killings and testified about them several times.

“My father and I left the village with our neighbours on July 11. We walked through the woods towards Tuzla. There were about 1000 of us. Fire was opened at us from all sides when we arrived to Kamenicko Hill. In that moment I got lost,” said Hasanovic, who was 16 at the time.

A short time later he was captured and brought to a warehouse in Kravica.

“I watched the shooting. Serb soldiers would take groups of ten men out and shoot them. I watched the shootings from a distance of 50 meters. They committed them next to the other part of the wall,” he said.

He managed to flee when he was ordered to fetch some water.

“When I arrived at the place where there was water, I found a girl, a 13 year old girl. Slaughtered. Her body was still shaking. At that moment I got so scared, I felt completely lost. I dropped the bottle and began running to the woods,” Hasanovic said.

Todorovic, Cirkovic and Kusic, members of the Special Brigade of Republika Srpska police, admitted their guilt. They were sentenced to a total of 16 years in prison.

Kusic admitted having killed a captive from Srebrenica in the vicinity of the warehouse in Kravica. He was sentenced to five years in prison.

“If I could turn back time, I definitely wouldn’t have acted in that way. I honestly regret it and apologize to the family, whose grief I have caused. I think about it every single day. I would like to put my soul at rest,” Kusic said.

The trial of Goran Saric, the former commander of the Special Brigade of Republika Srpska police, is currently underway at the Bosnian state court.

The war crime prosecution arrested eight more former members of the Jahorina Training Center on the suspicion that they participated in the execution of Srebrenica residents in Kravica. The suspects are: N.M., A.G., M.B., A.D., B.M., J.P., D.P. and V.V.