Busnov Testifies on Serb Civilians Detained in Stupari

On the second day of his testimony, defendant Selman Busnov said he didn’t have any information on the Serb population being treated incorrectly by the Stupari police in Kladanj.

Busnov is on trial with Safet Mujcinovic, Nusret Muhic, Zijad Hamzic, Nedzad Hodzic, Ramiz Halilovic, Osman Gogic and Kahro Vejzovic, former members of civil and military police and the Territorial Defense, for war crimes in the Kladanj area.

The state prosecution has charged Busnov with participating in the unlawful detention of Serb civilians in the teachers’ buildings and the old local community office in Stupari from late May throughout June 1992. According to the charges, Busnov became the chief of police on June 1, 1992, at the latest.

“As far as I know they had a normal relationship,” Busnov said while describing the relationship between the Serb population of Kladanj and the police. Busnov was the deputy commander of the Kladanj police station until October 1992.

According to Busnov, in late May or the beginning of June 1992, the war began in Kladanj. The prosecution alleges that police forces and the Territorial Defense unlawfully detained the Serb civilian population in teachers’ buildings in Stupari during that time.

Busnov, who began testifying on June 3, said he found out that Serb civilians were living in the teachers’ buildings in Stupari around June 10, 1992. He said Osman Cucak, the president of the wartime presidency of Kladanj, informed him of their presence.

Busnov said approximately 100 Serbs were housed in the teachers’ buildings, and they couldn’t leave the area at that time.

He said he’d previously spoken to the former commander of the Territorial Defense, who informed him that division lines had been set and he could not guarantee that the civilian population could safely cross to the territory controlled by the Bosnian Serb Army.

Busnov said Cucak told him that the police should guard the Serb population in the teachers’ buildings and that local paramedics should be made available to help them, while humanitarian organizations would deal with supplying them with food. He said he found out that representatives of the Serb population were satisfied with that.

Busnov said police guarded the buildings in order to ensure the safety of the Serb population, explaining that some cases of revenge were recorded in Kladanj, among other places.

Busnov said weapons were found on some of those persons. He said it was determined that they possessed it illegally.

“Police processed those persons and filed criminal reports,” Busnov said. The local prosecution received the first such reports in the first half of June 1992.

Busnov said the last group of civilians from the teachers’ buildings in Stupari was exchanged in the summer of 1993. As he said, civil authorities had to consent to each exchange.

Busnov’s examination will be continued on August 28.