Former VRS Fighter Said He Couldn’t Refuse Order to Shoot Civilians on Mount Borje
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The state prosecution has charged Dario Slavuljica, Dragan Marjanovic, Sasa Gavranovic, Vitomir Devic, Zoran Sljuk, and Dragomir Kezunovic with taking 28 detained non-Serb civilians from a Teslic police station and the nearby Pribinic prison to Mount Borje on the night of June 17 and 18, 1992. There, the defendants allegedly killed them.
According to the charges, Marjanovic was the commander of the First Squad of the military police of the Teslicka Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army (VRS). The other defendants were members of that squad as well as members of the “Mice” paramilitary formation.
During his direct examination at today’s hearing, Dario Slavuljica said he and other fighters were lined up on Mount Borje and that the captives stood in front of them.
“Marjanovic lined us up in front of the truck. As far as I can remember, Sljuka, Devic, Kezunovic, Momic, Marjanovic and I were there…We didn’t have automatic rifles…those who had automatic rifles stood behind us,” Slavuljica said.
At the least hearing held on January 21, 2015, Slavuljica said Dragan Marjanovic ordered him and others to pull their pistols out and shoot at the civilians, at which point every fighter present started shooting.
According to Slavuljica, approximately 18 civilians were killed during the first round of shooting. He said another group of civilians was brought to Mount Borje later that night and killed in the same manner.
Slavuljica said the fighters who were standing in the line by the truck couldn’t refuse to execute the order. He said they would have “probably ended up the same way, had we refused to carry out the order.”
Slavuljica was asked whether Kezunovic stood with him in the line and if that was the first time he saw him on Mount Borje. Slavuljica said he could not specify whether Kezunovic was in the line or beside it.
Slavuljica drew a sketch of the crime scene and the positions where he, Kezunovic and Marjanovic stood. He said he couldn’t remember where Kezunovic was when the second group of prisoners was brought to Mount Borje.
“I’m at the end of the squad. Momic, Zoran Sljuka and Devic are on my left hand side. I think Gavranovic stood on my right hand side, but I’m not sure,” Slavuljica said.
He said to his knowledge Vitomir Devic was in a military detention unit in Pribinic in June 1992.
Slavuljica’s defense said it had no more evidence to present. The first witnesses to testify in Dragan Marjanovic’s defense will be examined on February 11.
