Witnesses Claim Bijeljina Police Abducted Salkovic at Cobic Trial

Testifying for the district prosecution in Bijeljina, Danijela Jukan told the district court in Bijeljina that they were waiting for Salkovic in front of the Culture and Arts Association (KUD) in Bijeljina in order to agree on where they would socialize.

“A minivan appeared, a blue one I think. A big blonde man came out of it and asked if Mustafa Salkovic was with us. We told him he wasn’t there, so they left. A few minutes later Mustafica [Salkovic] appeared. We told him the police were looking for him. The same minivan appeared a short time later and the same tall man came out. He asked him if his name was Mustafa Salkovic. He said yes and they took him away,” Jukan said.

According to Jukan, no one paid attention to Salkovic’s arrest, because they expected him to be released very soon.

The district prosecution in Bijeljina has charged Dragan Cobic, a former member of the Interventions Squad with the police station in Bijeljina, with the arrest of Faruk Bilalic and Mustafa Salkovic on September 11, 1992. After their arrest they were found dead.

The body of killed Bilalic was found in Sremska Mitrovica in Serbia in 2003. Mustafa Salkovic has gone missing since his arrest.

Salkovic used to work for many years as a procurement clerk and a host at the Culture and Art Association in Bijeljina.

During cross-examination Jukan was unable to recognize Dragan Cobic, and said she didn’t know whether he was the police officer who arrested Salkovic. She was unable to confirm whether anyone else was present in the minivan besides the driver and the police officer.

Goran Perkic, who’s worked as an art director for the Culture and Art Association in Bijeljina since 1985, also testified at the trial. Perkic said he found about Salkovic’s disappearance three days after his arrest, when he returned from the battlefield.

“The KUD premises were closed when I returned. An elderly lady who lived in an apartment above our premises told me that the police had taken some children away two or three days ago. I went to the police station to find out what had happened, but they told me not to inquire about the incident too much and said it probably had something to do with some weapons that had been found,” Perkic said.

Perkic said he didn’t know anybody at the police station in Bijeljina at that time. Perkic also said he didn’t know the defendant and didn’t know whether he was the police officer who took Salkovic away.

The trial will continue on June 10.