Krsmanovic Verdict Expected August 31

Krsmanovic, a former member of the Second Podrinje Light Infantry Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army, has been charged with participating in acts of murder, rape, and abuse against the Bosniak population in Visegrad, as well as the inhumane treatment of civilian prisoners held in the Rasadnik detention camp in the municipality of Rogatica in 1995.

Krsmanovic’s defense contested 11 out of 12 counts in the indictment, except for his role in the abduction of 16 Bosniak civilians from Sjeverin in Serbia who were later killed near the Drina River.

According to the defense, Krsmanovic transported the 16 civilians, who’d been abducted from a bus in the Rudo area. He handed the civilians over to the Visegrad police on October 22, 1992, and said he believed that they were going be exchanged. The prosecution believes that Krsmanovic participated in the abuse of the same civilians at the Vilina Vlas Hotel and in their murder.

VVS, a protected state prosecution witness testified on these charges in a special hearing held before another trial chamber.

“I came to the Vilina Vlas for business. There were 18 people there, including a journalist from Duga magazine in Belgrade, Milan Lukic, and Oliver Krsmanovic. It was rumoured that Milan brought Muslims there by bus. They were ordered to take out their money and lie down. They hit them with their feet and hands,” VVS said.

VVS said one of the detainees begged to call his brother and promised to give them 5000 Marks.

“Oliver hugged him and said, ‘OK, we will see what we can do,’” VVS said.

VVS said he was certain he saw Krsmanovic drive the civilians in a Zastava truck covered with tarpaulin. He said he saw the civilians killed under a willow tree “in the middle of the day,” and also witnessed their bodies being thrown into the Drina River.

Ibrahim Sebo, the brother of one of the victims, also testified at the trial.

“The news broke on October 22. My phone heated up from the calls. The men were abducted from a bus while going to work…On the second or third day, I heard that this was the doing of Milan Lukic’s group,” Sebo said.

Other family members of the victims said they heard more about Oliver Krsmanovic and the abduction during the trial in Belgrade, in which Krsmanovic, Milan Lukic and Dragutin Dragicevic were sentenced to 20 years in prison in absentia.

Djordje Sevic, sentenced to 15 years in prison in Serbia, was also a witness at the trial. He answered the majority of questions during the trial with “I don’t know,” “it’s possible,” and “I don’t remember.”

The defense questioned the testimony of a protected witness known as OZ-1, who initially said he witnessed the murder of the 16 civilians from Sjeverin from his window and then changed his testimony to say he didn’t see the civilians killed in front of his building.

The defense invited Igor Cicovic to testify, since he’d been held in custody with Krsmanovic and OZ-1 a few years ago.

“I remember OZ-1 said, ‘What do you have to answer for, Oliver? I know you didn’t do it.’ He said he watched the suffering of those people from Sjeverin with his mother and saw that they were transported with a tractor and not a truck. He said he knew Krsmanovic wasn’t there,” Cicovic said.

The prosecution alleges that Krsmanovic collaborated to a great extent with Milan Lukic, who has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Hague Tribunal for war crimes in Visegrad.

The defense invited witnesses who described Krsmanovic’s role as that of a truck driver and an occasional guard. The defense argued that because of the Sjeverin civilians, Krsmanovic was also associated with crimes attributed to Milan Lukic.

The Bikavac Attack

Krsmanovic has also been charged with participating in burning 70 civilians alive in a house in Bikavac on June 27, 1992. The house belonged to Meho Aljic, and the victims included children, women and the elderly.

State prosecution witness Esad Tufkecic told the trial chamber he was hiding in the village of Kabernik, while his wife and two children were with her parents in the village of Bikavac.

“I was watching my father-in-law’s house every day from a hill. I heard a detonation and I climbed up the hill again. I saw that was it wasn’t their house and I thought it was okay, the kids won’t not be scared. I didn’t know they were the ones who were set on fire,” Tufekcic said.

During the trial, Krsmanovic gave his condolences to the families and said he believed that the perpetrators of the Bikavac attack would be brought to justice. He added, “God willing the same will happen to them.”

The family members of the Bikavac victims found out about the killings from Zehra Turjacanin, the only survivor. The state prosecution read her testimony, in which she described how she fled the house, which had its doors and windows barricaded. Turjacanin couldn’t appear in the courtroom due to her poor health.

“First, they threw stones at the house, then they fired bursts of gunfire and threw bombs. They threw some powder inside, which we could barely breathe from. Then the fire started and quickly spread. People were burning alive. I heard the yelling, the screams and cries, which I can’t describe,” Turjacanin said in her statement.

“She knows me well and I know her well. I would ask her whether I had anything to do with this crime,” Krsmanovic said in response to Turjacanin’s testimony.

A protected state prosecution witness known as OK-7 said she saw Krsmanovic, Lukic and other soldiers at Meho Aljic’s house in June 1992. She said they were carrying what looked like an iron garage door.

The prosecution also presented testimony given by WG-115, a protected witness who testified at the Hague. WG-115 said Krsmanovic was with Lukic and other soldiers when they forced the civilians into Aljic’s house.

The defense filed testimonies by several protected witnesses who testified at the Hague Tribunal about the Bikavac attack and hadn’t mentioned Krsmanovic.

The trial was delayed for months while waiting for a response from the Hague Tribunal regarding the defense’s request to access those witness statements. At the end of the state prosecution’s evidence procedure, prosecutor Mirko Lecic announced the possibility that they would give up on this count of the indictment. Lecic made this announcement at the end of the trial.

Rape, Assault and Abduction of Civilians

Krsmanovic has also been charged with raping a protected witness known as OK-14 in June 1992. OK-14 told the trial chamber she was raped by Krsmanovic while she was detained in the Vilina Vlas Hotel.

“He had painted camouflage colours on his face, so I couldn’t see him well. This is why I can’t say that it’s 100 percent him, but when the other soldier called him Oliver, I no longer had this dilemma,” OK-14 said.

Protected witness OK-7 testified on Krsmanovic’s involvement in the unlawful arrest of eight men from Dusce who have remained missing since 1992. OK-7 said she saw Krsmanovic when her neighbours from Dusce were taken away.

The defense asked OK-7 why she hadn’t mentioned Krsmanovic in her previous three statements. She said one of her statements didn’t have her signature on it, but added that she knew Krsmanovic since he was a boy.

OK-7 also provided testimony on the Bikavac attack, and said she also saw Krsmanovic when men were taken away from the Varda factory in June 1992.

“A Passat pulled up and Milan and Oliver got out of it. Oliver went to the woodwork. Milan told the manager to get ready…Milan took them to the Drina River. First he shot one bullet at a time, and then a burst of gunfire,” OK-7 said.

The defense presented OK-7 with earlier statements she’d made, in which she had said that Lukic drove in the Passat alone and that other people stood at the gate. OK-7 maintained that she saw Krsmanovic.

State prosecution witness Mujesira Oprasic testified on the abduction of her husband Hamed from the settlement of Haniste in May 1992. Oprasic said she saw Lukic, Krsmanovic and other soldiers on the day her husband was taken away. She said Lukic drover her husband away, while the others briefly searched their house. Protected witness OK-5 offered differing testimony, and said Krsmanovic was in the car when Oprasic was driven away. Oprasic has remained missing since.

Zejneba Osmanbegovic testified about the inhumane treatment of four civilians who were sheltered in Nail Osmanbegovic’s house. The four civilians and Hasan Ahmetspahic were taken to an unknown location.

Osmanbegovic said that Krsmanovic participated in Osmanbegovic and Ahmetspahic’s abduction in June 1992. They have not been found since.

During cross-examination, the defense claimed Osmanbegovic had mistaken Krsmanovic’s identity. Krsmanovic said all of her statements about where he lived and worked were not accurate.

“I swear on my three children that it was not me,” Krsmanovic said. Osmanbegovic then got up from the stand and swore that Krsmanovic had been at their house at that time.

Ethnic cleansing of villages

State prosecution witness Hasan Korac said his half-brother Resad Mucovski and Fadil Zukic were taken to the police station in Visegrad. Their bodies were later found in the village of Slap.

“Witness OK-12 was in the attic and saw how they were taken away. He told me that the defendant participated in the abduction of people and the [ethnic] cleansing of the village,” Korac said.

The defense said Korac hadn’t mentioned Krsmanovic in testimony he gave in 1995.

The testimony of protected witnesses OK-12 and OK-13 were closed to the public.

State prosecution witness Adem Sisic said he heard that Krsmanovic had beaten his son while he was detained in the Uzamnica barracks.

Protected witness OK-19 said Krsmanovic participated in the inhumane treatment of a prisoner with mental disabilities named Mujo Paraganlija in the Rasadnik detention camp in Rogatica.

“Mujo would ask everyone, ‘Best man, give me a cigarette.’ So he asked them, too, and they increased the flame on the lighter. He cried and fell and then asked for a cigarette again, and then they started beating him,” OK-19 said.

Zijad Kustura said Krsmanovic put a knife to his throat in a basement in May 1992.

The prosecution invited witnesses to testify on whether they saw or heard that Krsmanovic was at the Careva Mosque, which was destroyed in June 1992. Defense witness Miroslav Krsmanovic said that the defendant was not in the mosque’s yard when it was destroyed but in a nearby café.