Witness Says Fundup Was Attending Funeral During Alleged Cohodor Mahala Crimes
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Radoman Fundup, a former member of the Focanska Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army, has been charged with the murder and abuse of civilians in the Foca area. The indictment alleges that he participated in the murder of two children and five persons and the wounding of one woman in Cohodar Mahala, in collaboration with two other persons.
Fundup has also been charged with the abuse of three civilians, including two children. According to the indictment, he also intimidated and threatened civilians in the village of Gornje Polje. He ordered civilians in Gornje Polje to form a line, and accompanied by another person, cocked his rifle in order to simulate their execution.
Defense witness Borislav Fundic testified at today’s hearing. He said that on June 10, 1992, he visited the defendant, his parents, and others after a funeral.
He said Danilo Fundup was at the family home in uniform, and said he was a closer relative to him than the defendant.
According to Fundic, Danilo Fundup was slightly drunk and belligerent.
“I heard, ‘Come on, what are you waiting for?’ Then Radoman screamed at him, ‘Sit down,’” said Fundic. Fundic said he didn’t understand the context of their argument, and believed that Danilo Fundup left the house because the defendant shouted at him.
Fundic said that soon afterwards he heard two or three shots in the area. At around 4:30pm, he said the defendant left to take his parents back home.
Fundic said he went home soon afterwards. He said while he was returning home he saw the bodies of a man and a woman in front of two houses. Fundic said he heard a man named Radovic killed them. He said he had seen Radovic at the cemetery on the day of the funeral, but not at the family’s house.
The public was excluded from the hearing during certain cross-interrogations.
Bahra Rikalo also testified at this hearing. Rikalo said that she heard there had been a murder in Cohodor Mahala in June 1992, after a funeral.
The defense presented Rikalo with a statement she had previously made, in which she had that the perpetrator was a close relative of the deceased. Rikalo denied this statement, and said she knew who committed the murder.
The trial will continue on October 30.
