Witnesses Testifying at Cobic Trial Says Defendant Didn’t Arrest Murder Victims

The district prosecution of Bijeljina has charged Dragan Cobic, a former member of the Interventions Squad of the Bijeljina police station, with arresting Mustafa Salkovic and Faruk Bilalic on September 11, 1992. Cobic and four other unknown perpetrators allegedly drove them in an unknown direction and killed them.

Witnesses testifying at today’s hearing before the district court of Bijeljina confirmed that Dragan Cobic, nicknamed Combe, was a member of the Interventions Squad.
 
“It seems to me that I heard about their names [Mustafa Salkovic and Faruk Bilalic] in 2002, when I was told to come in for questioning by the police. I gave an official statement about it in 2009. But, I didn’t know nothing about it then nor do I now,” witness Mirko Simic said.

Witness Cvijetin Stevanovic also said he heard about the murders after the war.
 
“I can’t pretend and say that I haven’t heard about them when everything was put on Combe’s back. I was even called in for questioning,” Stevanovic said.
 
Although both witnesses are documented as having been on duty on September 11, 1992, they both said they couldn’t remember the date the victims were arrested, nor could they confirm Cobic’s involvement in their arrest.

They said that at the beginning of the war, the Interventions Squad was mostly in charge of maintaining peace and order in Bijeljina. They said they detained dozens of people on a daily basis for not respecting the curfew or the Law on Public Order and Peace.
 
They said the largest number of cases they dealt with involved people who had returned from the battlefield or members of paramilitary formations they had entered into armed conflict with.
 
The trial will continue on October 22.