Taken away from Trnopolje

Rade Vlasenko, Mitar Vlasenko and Drago Koncar, all former members of the Bosnian Serb Army, have been charged with participating in the persecution of the non-Serb population from the Kozarac area and surrounding villages in the municipality of Prijedor from May 24 to mid-August 1992.

The indictment alleges that the defendants committed acts of murder and enforced disappearances.

A protected witness and former Trnopolje prisoner known as S-2 said he saw a minor named Midhad Mahmuljin being taken away from the camp in late July 1992. S-2 said Mahmuljin was killed in Suhi Brod, along with others.

S-2 said Serb soldiers came to the camp with a truck, and selected men to come with them to collect firewood or construction material. S-2 said the soldiers chose Mahmuljin to come with them.

“They told me that Rade Vlasenko pointed his finger at him,” S-2 said.

S-2 said he didn’t know Vlasenko at the time. He said Mahmuljin told him Vlasenko was one of the soldiers.

S-2 said a prisoner named Mujkanovic, who he slept beside at the camp, was taken away as well.

S-2 said Mujkanovic came back that night with cuts on his body. S-2 said Mujkanovic told him soldiers started shooting the prisoners after they’d finished working.

S-2 said Mujkanovic managed to run away, while all the others were killed.

Rade Vlasenko’s defense attorney presented S-2 with a statement he’d made in 2014, in which he said he couldn’t have known which soldier pointed at Mahmuljin. S-2 said he didn’t know Vlasenko, but Mahmuljin had told him that he’d pointed at him.

The trial will continue on July 14.