Witness Says Jovan Popovic Abducted his Father

Jovan Popovic has been charged with abducting a small number of civilians from Rodica Brdo in mid-June 1992 and taking them to the Visegrad police station. The civilians have remained missing since.

He apprehended the civilians with a group of soldiers led by Milan Lukic, whom the Hague Tribunal sentenced to life imprisonment for war crimes in Visegrad.

The indictment also charges Popovic with pillaging houses in several villages in the Visegrad area.

Last year the Bosnian state court acquitted Goran Popovic, the defendant’s son, of charges for crimes in Visegrad.

Testifying at today’s hearing, state prosecution witness Elvir Alic said he saw his father being taken away from the village of Rodic Brdo in Visegrad in late May 1992. He said he was 12 years old at the time.

According to Alic, Milan Lukic, Jovan Popovic and his son, Goran Popovic, as well as a few other armed uniformed men apprehended his father.

Alic said they didn’t find his father at home when they came for him the first time, but terrorized the other residents of the house. He said he lived with his mother, sister, his mother’s stepmother and her children, Nihad and Indira, at the time.

“Nihad was five. Jovan examined him about pears, showing him two bombs attached to his belt. He didn’t know what a pear was, so I tried to explain it to him. Jovan slapped me in the face. Nihad said that Ismet Berberovic’s yard was full of pears, referring to real fruit trees,” Alic.

Alic said Lukic, Jovan Popovic, Goran Popovic and the others, whom he didn’t know, returned in approximately ten days. He said his father surrendered to them because they threatened to kill the male children and rape the women in the house.

“They knocked my father down in the yard. They kicked him and hit him with all sorts of objects. We were crying and screaming,” Alic. He said Lukic then asked his father,“Why are you so important that I have to look for you so many times?”

Alic said that was the last time he saw his father. He said Popovic told him he would bring him back and that Lukic was just taking him to give a statement.

Alic said he then saw Fadil Zukic being taken away. He said his mother told him that the same men who took his father away also took Huso Delibasic.

“I was in front of Fadil’s house, when Jovan took him away. He entered the house and came out five or ten minutes later, taking Fadil with him. Two other men waited in front of the house. They put him in a car and drove towards Visegrad,” Alic said.

Alic said he tried to flee Visegrad with his mother and sister a short time later, but Popovic stopped them and threatened them, telling them to never try to leave the area again. Alic said they managed to reach Serbia the next time they fled.

The trial will continue on March 2.