Jail Urged in Bosnian Serb Fighter’s Murder and Rape Trial
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Prosecutor Ivan Matesic cited the testimonies given by witnesses to the murder of Roma civilians Mejra and Alaga Halilovic, a mother and her son, who were aged 80 and 65 respectively.
The prosecutor said that one witness described in detail how Cvetkovic hit Alaga Halilovic’s son Zoran with a baton and gave him a piece of paper to take to Bosniak forces in Lasovac with the demand that they surrender.
As Zoran Halilovic failed to return by early evening as directed, Cvetkovic and two other men went to Alaga Halilovic’s home and shot him in the head, then fired at Mejra Halilovic, the prosecutor continued.
The prosecutor also pointed out that other witnesses said they heard that Cvetkovic had committed the crime. He mentioned that one witness asked Cvetkovic’s father why his son had killed the Halilovics, and that the father started swearing and said he could do nothing to stop him.
According to the prosecutor, it was further proved that Bosniak civilians were detained in buildings at a mine in the village of Sase, and that a military unit, whose members were described as volunteers, arrived in the village in mid May 1992.
“Although there is no documentation that Cvetkovic was formally a member of any unit, the witnesses confirmed having seen him armed and uniformed and that he used to come to the mine, and that they used to see him in Sase and Bratunac,” Matesic said.
He said that three witnesses confirmed that they were taken from the mine to a house in Bratunac, ostensibly to clean a military building. Two of them said they were then raped by the defendant.
One of them, who was 15 at the time, gave a detailed description of how Cvetkovic arrived with two other men and called them ‘Balija [a derogatory term for Bosnian Muslims] girls’, the prosecutor continued.
Matesic said that one of the women described how Cvetkovic raped her, pushing her onto a bed, tearing her clothes off and slapping her while she screamed and resisted.
“The defence did not undermine her testimony at all. It could not have done, because the witness told the truth, describing Sasa Cvetkovic’s inconceivable behaviour,” he said.
The other woman, who was 19 at the time, also identified Cvetkovic during the trial as the person who raped her.
The defence is due to present its closing statement on February 25.
