Witness Describes Murder of Civilians at Fundup Trial

Radoman Fundup, a former member of the Focanska Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army, has been charged with the murder and abuse of civilians. According to the indictment, he and two other persons participated in the murder of two children and five persons, as well as the wounding of one woman in Cohodar Mahala.

Fundup has also been charged with abusing three civilians, including two children. The indictment also alleges he came to the village of Gornje Polje accompanied by another unidentified person. They lined the civilians up and cocked their rifles, giving civilians the impression that they would be shot.

C-1 was unable to recognize Fundup as the soldier who tried to kill her in her house on June 10, 1992.

The witness, known as C-1, said the killing of women and children in Cohodar Mahala began on June 9, 1992. She said her friend’s house was the first one to be attacked, where three women and two children were killed.

“It happened on June 9, in the late evening…I heard screaming and shouting,” C-1 said. She said she saw the body of a woman in front of the courtyard of her friend’s house on the following morning. A neighbour informed her in the morning that everyone in the house was killed.

C-1 told the court she was with her mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and an elderly neighbour when two uniformed men came to the house in the afternoon on the same day.

“They were looking for a radio communication device. I said we didn’t have one. One of them cocked his rifle and shot my mother-in-law in the stomach. The barrel turned towards me. Fire was opened at me, but none of the bullets hit me. I just fell down, facing the ground,” C-1 said.

Afterwards, she said one of the soldiers went to the first floor of the house. She heard screaming and a gunshot. C-1 said when the soldier went back, he shot her wounded mother-in-law in the head and her in the back.

“A bullet penetrated through my body. It went out on the back, through my right breast. I remember them hitting me all over my body after that. Then I fainted,” C-1 said.

She said she recognized one of the soldiers.

“It was Fundup. I found out later that his name was Radoman,” C-1 said. She said Fundup had visited a neighbour of hers about ten days prior.

“So many years have passed. I’ve changed. He has certainly changed too. I can’t say it’s him, because I’m not 100 percent sure,” C-1 said.

C-1 said she survived the attack because a neighbour drove her to a hospital, where she was operated on and underwent medical treatment for about ten days.

She recalled hearing hospital staff saying “Fundup killed all the people in Cohodor Mahala.”

“They mentioned Radoman. They were rumours from the corridor. They would say many women and children had been killed,” C-1 said.

Towards the end of her testimony she said she was saved thanks to an acquaintance and her neighbours, who helped her leave Foca by bus in the summer of 1992.

During cross-examination the defense presented the witness with two photographs and her previous statements.

C-1 said she didn’t recognize the people in the photos, and said they weren’t in her house when she was shot in 1992.

Defense attorney Slavisa Prodanovic reminded C-1 of a statement she gave to the police in Gorazde in 1997, when she said three uniformed men entered her home and many Chetniks were in front of the house. C-1 said what she said in the courtroom today was true.

At today’s hearing the defense requested the court release Fundup from custody. The prosecution objected, but requested that the trial chamber order prohibitive measures against the defendant.

The trial will continue on July 3.