Witnesses Describe Detainment of Prisoners of War on Gorazde Police Premises

Testifying for the district prosecution in Eastern Sarajevo, witnesses confirmed that several Bosnian Serb Army captives were detained in a police station in Gorazde after their capture in Trovrh by Bosnian Army forces. They didn’t know where they were taken afterwards.

The district prosecution in Eastern Sarajevo has charged Muhamed Adzem, Omer Ugljesa, Senad Halilovic and Suljo Karkelja, former members of the Bosnian Army, with participating in the murder of seven captured members of the Bosnian Serb Army, on September 17, 1992.

According to the charges, the prisoners of war were captured on August 21, 1992. Afterwards they were held in the building of the municipal secretariat for internal affairs in Gorazde. They were then allegedly taken to Ladjeva Stijena in the village of Kopaci, where they were killed.

Dzevad Klovo, a former police officer, testified at today’s hearing. Klovo said he saw five or six people in the corridor of the police station in the summer of 1992. He said he found out later on that they were prisoners of war.

Klovo said Predrag Bogunic, the former deputy commander of the traffic police in Gorazde, was there and spoke to army personnel. He said Bogunic protested that it wasn’t right to keep prisoners of war on police premises.

Klovo said he didn’t hear the outcome of that conversation, because Bosnian Army personnel from Kopaci and Bogunic were standing apart from each other. He said he didn’t know how long the captives stayed or when they left.

Predrag Bogunic, nicknamed Braco, also testified at this hearing. Bogunic said about 50 Serbs from the village of Bucje in the municipality of Gorazde were arrested in the summer of 1992. He said between six and eight captives were brought from Trovrh to the municipal secretariat for internal affairs.

“I heard that Klacar [one of the prisoners of war] hung himself in a silo,” Bogunic said, describing the claim as “town rumours.”

Bogunic said he didn’t know how long the captives were held at the municipal secretariat for internal affairs. He said he heard various rumours claimed they were taken to Kopaci. He said their fate remains unknown and that the stories he heard were just hearsay.

When asked by the defense whether he was in the corridor with Dzevad Klovo when the captives were brought to the municipal secretariat for internal affairs, Bogunic said he didn’t remember and heard later on that Drljevic had brought the captives.

Also testifying at this hearing, Malin Culov said he wasn’t present when the captives were brought from Trovrh. He went to greet them later on. He said they were locked up. He heard that soldiers took them away, but didn’t know who ordered it.

When asked whether he knew if any of the captives were alive, Culov said Todorovic and the Lasicas were not alive, but he didn’t know where they’d been taken.

The trial will continue on September 17.