Witness Describes Murder of Neighbour by Bosnian Serb Forces in Fajtovci

Defendants Mile Kokot, Goran Mrdja, Milorad Mrdja and Ranko Mrdja, have been charged with participating in crimes against Bosniaks in the Sanski Most area.

According to the state prosecution’s charges, the defendants murdered, raped, assaulted and robbed civilians, and also committed other forms of mental and physical abuse from 1992 to 1994. The indictment alleges the defendants were members of the Sixth Sanska Infantry Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army (VRS) at that time.

Testifying at today’s hearing, state prosecution witness Kemal Tatarevic said he lived with his family in the village of Naprelje in the municipality of Sanski Most at the beginning of the war. He said he reported to the neighbouring village of Fajtovci as part of his civil duty every day until August 1994.

According to Tatarevic, Bosniaks from villages under the control of the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) were surrounded. He said they were kicked out of their houses and mistreated on two occasions in July 1992.

“We had to walk between two lines of people, in pairs. We held our hands on the napes of our necks and bent our heads down. They forced us to stand still while the temperature was 37 degrees…A few Bosniaks were taken away and beaten. The mosque was set on fire and Murat Avdic was killed,” Tatarevic said.

He said Branko Basara, the commander of the Sixth Sanska Brigade, “saved” the first time.

Tatarevic said his neighbour, Tahir Ceric, was killed in July 1992, when a bus and a few cars pulled up in front of his house.

“I was not far from Fajtovci. I watched it. Two or three soldiers got off the bus…I could only see that their uniforms were the same. All of a sudden I heard a loud female cry from that direction. An ambulance stopped in front of that house soon after,” Tatarevic said.

Tatarevic said people talked about who had killed Tahir for a few days.

“Some said he was killed by a [man named] Mile Kokot. After the war I met Tahir’s son Dzemal, who told me the same thing,” Tatarevic said. He said he didn’t witness the murder or know who Mile Kokot was.

The prosecution said it intended to examine two more witnesses and two expert witnesses during its presentation of evidence.

The next hearing is scheduled for February 15.