Witness Describes Assault and Break-In at Tomas Trial

Momir Tomas, a former member of the Bosnian Serb Army, has been charged with the physical abuse and inhumane treatment of Bosniak civilians in the village of Breza on November 29, 1992.

“Asim Korjenic, my daughter-in-law Ifeta and her baby were at my place…Two men came to the house at around 3am…I don’t know who they were. They found two suitcases and a folding knife. They were beating Asim, but when they found the folding knife, one of them punched me,” said witness Nihad Becirovic.

He said he walked towards Ibrahim Becirovic’s house with Korjenic and two soldiers, who were looking for jewelry.

Prosecutor Nedzad Corovic included reports on the identification and examination of Becirovic in the case file.

Tomas’ defense attorney read a portion of the report on Becirovic’s examination, citing a sentence which read “Tomas entered the house.”

Becirovic said that wasn’t what he said, because he didn’t know the names of the men who entered his house at the time.

“Asim told me his name later on. I didn’t know it during the war,” Becirovic explained.

Becirovic said the soldiers left at around 5 or 6am and that he spent the next few days at his neighbour Marilovic’s house until his exchange.

Becirovic said he went to a police station in Hadzici to identify the perpetrators based on photographs of potential suspects. He said he noticed that one of the men in the photographs was “fat with curly hair.”

He wasn’t able confirm whether Tomas was the same person who attacked him in November 1992.

The trial will continue on June 10.