Fighters Admit Murder, Torture in Bosanski Novi

Stojan and Zoran Kenjalo and Dragan Balaban pleaded guilty at the state court on Monday to crimes against humanity in the Bosanski Novi area.

They are charged with the murder, forcible resettlement and torture of Bosniak civilians from the hamlets of Ekici and Alici in the municipality of Bosanski Novi.

“I am 100 per cent guilty. I admitted it in Banja Luka nine years ago,” defendant Balaban said.

Judge Mediha Pasic said the prosecution has proposed that Stojan Kenjalo and Dragan Balaban be sentenced to between five and seven years in prison and Zoran Kenjalo to between five and six years.
The court will announce its decision on June 9.

Also on Monday, testifying at the trial of eight Serb former policemen and soldiers for wartime crimes in the Zvornik area, prosecution witnesses spoke about the capture and murder of Bosniaks in the village of Lokanj.

Zoran Jagodic, a former member of the Interventions Squad of the Ugljevik police, said he went to Lokanj in mid-July 1992, to prevent violent incidents and cattle theft.

After they had spent the night in Lokanj, they were woken up by shooting. He said they went to the woods and saw captives surrounded and beaten by enraged village residents.

“Ivan Stevanovic, an active policeman, fired bullets in the air in order to calm them down. He knew some of the captives. He singled out 12 people, including women and children, and ordered us to escort them to the village. He said we must ensure they would not be harmed,” Jagodic told the court.

“While we were walking towards the village, we faced horrible problems. One of the local residents wanted to shoot us because we were protecting them. After that a woman, who had previously lost her husband, wanted to slaughter us with a knife,” he added.

He told the court they took a group of captives to Lokanj, while about 20 others stayed in the woods.

According to his testimony, about 100 members of various armed groups were in the village. He said that Ugljevik police chiefs Vinko Lazic and Borko Djuric also came and asked defendant Goran Maksimovic to explain to them what was going on.

Jagodic said that, after having left the village, they heard the captives were killed by local residents.
Goran Maksimovic, Ljiljan Mitrovic, Slavko Peric, Mile Vujevic, Vukasin Draskovic, Gojko Stevanovic, Rajo Lazarevic and Mico Manojlovic are charged with attacking a convoy that left Teocak on July 14, 1992, and for their role in escorting and guarding 76 civilians, 67 of whom were killed in Lokanj.

The indictment alleges that Maksimovic was the commander of the Interventions Unit of the police in Ugljevik, Mitrovic was his deputy, Slavko Peric was the commander of the Lokanjska Company with the Zvornik Brigade of Bosnian Serb Army, while the other defendants were members of the unit.