Witness Describes Beating in Jusici at Trial of Five Former Bosnian Serb Army Soldiers

The defendants, Dragomir Vasic, Miodrag Josipovic, Branimir Tesic, Danilo Zoljic and Radomir Pantic have been charged with assisting in the forcible resettlement of the local population from Srebrenica, of separating men from women and children, as well as capturing and executing men and boys in Bratunac, Srebrenica and Zvornik.

The indictment alleges that Josipovic and Tesic participated in the forcible resettlement of the civilian population from Potocari, separating men from their families, and transporting and detaining more than 1000 Bosniak men and boys in Bratunac. They were allegedly killed later on.

According to the charges, at the time Josipovic was the chief of the public safety station in Bratunac. Tesic was the deputy commander of the police station in Bratunac. Vasic was the commander of the police headquarters in Zvornik. Zoljic was the commander of special units with the safety services center in Zvornik. Pantic was the commander of the First Company of the special units.

Adil Omerovic, the first prosecution witness, said he visited the village of Jusici with returnees in 1996 in order to help them repair their homes. He said local residents were banned from entering an area in the village where several houses containing explosive devices were located. Those houses were detonated a few days later.

“I went there with my pals. There were between 100 and 150 people. Members of the Russian IFOR were in front of it. Apart from them, Serb policemen were also present. They didn’t allow people to enter that part of the village. People tried to approach their houses, but the Serb policemen didn’t let them,” Omerovic said.

He said after evaluating the situation, the crowd retreated. Only he and two others remained.

“One morning, at around 2 or 3am, an explosion was heard in that part of the village. We went to the Russian IFOR when the sun rose. They let us enter the area where the explosion had happened. After having walked by four or five houses, we noted that everything was totally destroyed in the explosion,” the Omerovic said.

He said he went there with an American reporter in order to take photos of what had happened. He said he was beaten up by Bosnian Serb forces in the area.

“A man climbed on top of the ruins of a house. Some men wearing bullet-proof vests exited the ruins. They were members of the “Vukovi sa Drine” [the Wolves of Drina military unit] and a special unit. At some stage the men fell and the American guy dropped the camera,” Omerovic said.

Omerovic told the court that one of those soldiers beat him up.

“He really beat me up. He hit me with his rifle and boots and all sorts of objects,” Omerovic said.

After his beating, Omerovic said, he was taken to the police station in Zvornik, where he had to sign a document which claimed he had participated in mining the houses and that he was a terrorist.

Dragomir Vasic’s defense attorney said he objected to the examination of irrelevant witnesses, on the grounds that they weren’t providing testimony on the events described in the indictment.

Prosecutor Dubravko Campara said the examination of those witnesses was necessary in order to prove genocidal intention. Campara said genocidal intention existed in 1996, and that its consequences lingered, even twenty years later.

The trial will continue on April 23.