Witnesses at Stanarevic Trial Describe Detention in Bihac

The state prosecution has charged Stanarevic, a former military policeman with the 15th Bihacka Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army, with participating in the murder of 11 prisoners from a facility in Ripac, in the Bihac area. The killings allegedly took place between June 24 and the first half of July 1992 at the Bezdan Pit.

According to the indictment, Stanarevic and other members of the Bosnian Serb Army drove the prisoners to the pit. The prosecution alleges that Stanarevic participated in the execution of the prisoners and dumped the bodies into the pit.

State prosecution witness and former Ripac prisoner Jasmin Zulic said the shelling of Orasac began in June 1992 and the local population was told to surrender.

“I was in the woods on June 11. I could see tanks from the hill. I surrendered in front of the school building. The school was full. I watched a house burning…I spent three days and nights in that building. After that they loaded us onto a bus and drove us to Ripac,” Zulic said.

Zulic said soldiers escorted them into a hall that once housed a tractor repair shop. He said the soldiers tied their hands up and beat one prisoner.

“The other detainees who were with me were civilians, mostly from Orasac. There were about 150 of us…We had no food. We would get one slice of bread in the evening. I fainted from exhaustion on the seventh day…About twenty days later I was exchanged,” Zulic said.

According to Zulic, more than 70 prisoners remained in the hall. All of their bodies were eventually found in the Bezdan Pit.

“None of them stayed alive,” he said.

State prosecution witness Sead Dervisevic said he left the village of Klisa in the municipality of Bihac in the summer of 1992. He said he headed towards Orasac along with other local civilians.

“I spent one night in the school building. On the following morning I went to Rasim Delic’s house. I was there when Orasac fell. Soldiers came and ordered us to strip and go out. They pointed their guns at our faces. They returned us to the school building,” he said.

Responding to questions from the defense, Dervisevic said he didn’t know Stanarevic.

The trial will continue on September 21.