Witness at Trial of Eight Ex-Soldiers Unaware of Military Operations in Karacici
This post is also available in: Bosnian
Former Bosnian Serb soldiers Radomir Markovic, Mile Kusic, Dragan Bozovic, Sasa Perkovic, Radomir Gluhovic, Pero Radovic, Ilija Vukasinovic and Milos Vukasinovic have been charged with searching and pillaging houses in the villages of Karacici, Vragolovi and Golubovici on September 18, 1992.
During the search of Karacici, the defendants allegedly found 20 Bosniak civilians hiding in a garage. According to the indictment, the defendants beat the civilians with rifle butts and then pushed them into a nearby barn, where they were killed. The shooting caused a fire which burned the bodies, the indictment alleges. The prosecution claims the defendants acted in collaboration with other unidentified perpetrators.
According to the charges, at the time Markovic was the commander of the Socicka Company of the Rogaticka Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army, while the other defendants were members of that unit.
Testifying at today’s hearing, defense witness Stojka Vojinovic said she worked in kitchens in several villages in the Rogatica area in 1992 as a member of the Bosnian Serb Army.
Vojinovic said that while working in the village of Stjenica she used to see the defendants, who occasionally took food from her. She said she met defendant Radomir Markovic during the war.
Vojinovic said she used to work in a kitchen in Stjenice during the day and slept in a nearby school building at night. She said she and the other kitchen staff cooked meals for local residents and approximately ten soldiers.
Responding to questions from the prosecution, Vojinovic said she didn’t see Bosniak civilians in the school or anyone bringing them into the school building.
“I only know that there were problems in the village of Kramer. I don’t know anything else. I don’t know that there was a military operation in Karacici,” Vojinovic said.
During cross-examination, Vojinovic said she hadn’t heard that the defendants had done anything wrong.
The trial will continue on February 9.
