Djukic: Stories of slaughtered youth

By: Merima Husejnovic

After having examined more than 30 witnesses and presented more than 150 pieces of material evidence over a seven-month period, the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina has completed its case against Novak Djukic, charged with having command responsibility for the shelling of Tuzlain May 1995.

A status conference, at which the Defence will present its evidence presentation plan, is due on November 11, 2008.

The indictment alleges that Djukic was commander of the Ozren Tactical Group, TG, with the Republika Srpska Army, VRS.

He is charged with having ordered an artillery squad under his command and based in Panjik village on Mount Ozren to shell Tuzla using 130 mm cannon on May 25 and May 28, 1995, when Tuzla was a protected UN zone.

According to the indictment, an artillery projectile, fired from Mount Ozren on May 25, hit the part of the town known as Kapija. The shell killed 71 people and wounded more than 200. The youngest victim, Sandro Kalesic, was two and a half years old.

Sandro’s father,Dino Kalesic, appeared as a Prosecution witness. He said that he had been celebrating his wedding anniversary with his family and friends when the shell hit Kapija.

“That day every street and every coffee shop was full of young people. The missile fell and cut a swathe through happiness, carefree youth and beauty. The next moment everything became dark. They were all either killed or wounded. There was no music or light any more. Darkness was everywhere, as well as a gruesome tingling,” Kalesic said.

Kalesic grabbed his son and fled to the cover of a building. When he got there he saw that “a piece of shrapnel had hit Sandro in the heart”.

“He passed away in my arms just before I entered the hospital. The doctors could not resuscitate him,” Kalesic recalled.

Amel Mehmedovic lost his brother and friend on that day and he himself was wounded.

“There were more than 200 people at Kapija because after along period of rain this was the first nice sunny day. It was Youth Day, but it turned into a tragic one,” Mehmedovic said.
Samir Djapo’s best friend, who had turned 20 three days earlier, was killed.

“It became dark and I sensed the smell of gunpowder. I was lying on the ground and my friend Asim Slijepcevic was lying next to me. He was paralyzed. I called his name, but he did not respond,” Djapo recalled.

On that day Fahrudin Rahmanovic, Azra Mitrovic, Adnan Piric and Amra Ponjavic were also wounded and taken to the hospital, where the corridors were crowded with the wounded.

“I had a feeling that the whole of Tuzla was gathered in front of the Gradina hospital. They were all looking for somebody. The hospital corridor was covered with blood and the corpses were piled up there,” Azra Mitrovic told the Court.

Ahmed Isic recalled scenes from the hospital.

“We wrapped the dead in blankets and we piled them up in the corridor. I saw my friend Samir, whose legs were cut off. In some way he saved me, because he stood right in front of me and ‘absorbed’ all the shrapnel. He died in the hospital,” Isic said.

Adnan Mujacic managed to survive in a similar way. He said he was standing “just five or ten meters away from the explosion”, adding that he was hit by 22 pieces of shrapnel.

“At least 50 people were standing between me and the explosion spot, which was just a few meters away. That is how I survived. I had pieces of shrapnel in my eye, legs and even in the are a near my heart, but those pieces of metal had already slowed down after having passed through so many people before hitting me,” Mujacic said in a shaking voice.

Nadir Huremovic, Edin Altunbabic and Adnan Aliefendic were not wounded, although they were present at Kapija on May 25, 1995. They tried to help the wounded.

“I heard an explosion and I saw a lot of dust. A few seconds later we heard screams and cries for help. There was blood everywhere.People were saying all kinds of things, like ‘do not leave us here, save us’and so on,” Nadir Huremovic said.

Shortly after the explosion local journalists arrived at the site of the massacre. Salih Brkic was one of them.

“I saw an eerie scene. Then we went to the hospital. It was only after we had arrived there that I realized the scale of the tragedy.Bodies of killed people were lying in the corridor. It was a horrible scene.From that date on people kept dying, the Tuzla youth kept dying,” Salih Brkic said.

One day after the shell explosion, on May 26, 1995, an investigation team from Tuzla and Sarajevo conducted a crime-scene inspection. The team consisted of Nedzad Vejzagic, on behalf of the Ministry of Interior of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Charlez Bratz, representing UNPROFOR.

“On the basis of discovered metal remnants, the experts determined that they belonged to an artillery projectile fired from a 130 mm cannon. It was determined that the projectile had been fired from Mount Ozren,”Vejzagic said.

According to statements given by former VRS members, four brigades and “associated units”, which could use the130 mm cannon upon request, were situated on Mount Ozren.

“The Tactical Group command was in charge of the use of those weapons. I know that in some instances some Units asked for permission to use the cannon on the front line, as their primary purpose was to support defence efforts. As far as I know they were not used for firing at inhabited places,”said Dragan Jovanovic, former operations officer with the Ozren TG, which,according to him, was commanded by Novak Djukic in 1995.

Dragan Vasiljevic, the then commander of the First Ozren Brigade, said that the TG did not have any artillery of its own, because their task was just to “consolidate actions undertaken by all Units in that area”.

“The 130 and 155 mm cannon belonged to the Artillery Squad of the First Krajina Corps, which issued commands for their use. Brigade commanders were the only officers who could ask for a permission to use those,through the Tactical Group,” Vasiljevic said.

On the other hand, Brano Marjanovic, former commander of a squad with the First Ozren VRS Brigade, and his deputy Zoran Lazarevic claim that no cannon were situated on Mount Ozren. They insist that their unit only had 62 mm mine-throwers.

The Prosecution examined members of the First Mixed Artillery Regiment, MAR, who said that three 130 mm cannon were situated in Panjik village on Mount Ozren.

Mile Savic, who was wartime commander of the MAR of the First VRS Krajina Corps, said that the Unit, consisting of two 130 mm cannon and about 20 people, “was attached to the Ozren Tactical Group”, so that it could use those cannon. He explained to the Court that the cannon Unit had to submit reports to the TG, adding that no shells could have been fired without an order“from a superior brigade”.

“All orders would contain a target number and the number of projectiles to be fired. After having executed the orders, we were obliged to notify them if we had performed the task as required,” said Ljubisa
Corsovic,former deputy commander of the 130 mm cannon squad, adding that the firing orders were, in most cases, given by the TG artillery commander, known as“Major Omega”.

Goran Mijatovic, Nenad Colic and Slavko Stojanovic, former section commanders with the MAR, said that their Staffs issued commands for firing shells, adding that no soldiers could have fired any shells on their own.

“I received all orders related to our military actions by phone from the Staffs, actually the Squad Commander. I did not know what the targets were. What I received from them were the elements needed for firing and aiming. On the basis of these elements, I could not say what the targets were. I did not know if the shells hit the town or its vicinity,” Mijatovic said.

Goran Mrzic, Milan Djuric and Dragan Babic, former MAR members, said that their task was “to calculate”, i.e. to calculate the firing elements on the basis of the given coordinates.

“As far as I know the TG issued the orders for firing.Actually, this was done by the chief of artillery, who was known as Omega. Our Squad Commander used to convey the coordinates or numerical targets, at which we had to shoot,” said Mrzic. Djuric and Babic gave similar statements.

All former VRS members who were examined by the Prosecution claimed to have found out about the Kapija shelling from media reports. Most of them said that they were sure that the shell could not have been fired from their military positions.

On the basis of a reconstruction of events which he conducted at the Prosecution’s request court expert Berko Zecevic said that there was no doubt that a 130 mm shell, which hit Tuzla on May 25, 1995, was fired from Panjik village on Mount Ozren.

“The radius of the projectile’s destructive zone was as big as half of a football stadium. Each fragment was lethal, and one projectile breaks into between 4,000 to 6,800 metal fragments. This type of projectile is very efficient when you have a large number of people in a small area, which was the case at Kapija square. What happened there as a result of that is realistic” Zecevic said.

Merima Husejnovic is BIRN – Justice Report journalist. [email protected]. Justice Report is online weekly BIRN publication.