Koricanske stijene: Witness Spoke Daily to Topola

Kadric identified Topola as the deputy detention camp manager and said he brought him “200 German marks and a toothbrush” sent by his wife. He added that Topola warned him not to join the convoy leaving Trnopolje on August 21, 1992, but the witness said he did not listen.

“The night before the departure of the convoy, soldiers came into the detention camp and beat detainees up. I could no longer stand it. When I heard about the convoy the next morning, I showed them a certificate saying I would voluntarily leave Republika Srpska. Then I got on a bus together with my two nephews,” Kadric said.

Topola, Sasa Zecevic, Radoslav Knezevic, Petar Civcic and Marinko Ljepoja are accused of escorting a convoy of civilians travelling from Prijedor to Travnik, then selecting about 200 men and shooting them at Koricanske stijene.

The indictment alleges that Zecevic, Knezevic, Civcic and Ljepoja were members of the Public Safety Station in Prijedor and Topola was a guard in Trnopolje detention camp at the time.

The witness said he came to the Trnopolje detention camp voluntarily after hiding in corn fields for two days, because “Serbian soldiers occupied Rizvanovici village” in Prijedor municipality on July 20 and killed his family members.

Kadric stayed in Trnopolje for a month. During the course of his testimony he recalled the convoy having been escorted by “soldiers dressed in blue uniforms”. The witness said the convoy stopped in Kozarac where it was joined by buses and trucks from Prijedor.

“In Kozarac a soldier in blue trousers and with sunglasses said all the passengers who were standing could get off the buses and go to the trucks from Prijedor. The passengers who stayed in the bus were male adults. I got off the bus as I had been among the standing passengers,” Kadric said, explaining he then got on a truck.

The witness said that “a soldier named Zeljko” gave the truck passengers a bag, threatening them and asking them to collect 5,000 German marks and put the money in the bag.

“He said he would slaughter a child in front of our eyes and kill all of us unless we collected the money,” Kadric said.

He said he left the truck in order to fetch some water at the last stop prior to the exchange on Mount Vlasic. However, a soldier ordered him to go back. The witness said he then saw “soldiers dressed in blue uniforms”.

“We moved on a short time later. We took a macadam road. I wanted to take some fresh air as there was so much dust under the awning, so I lifted the awning a little bit. The buses from Trnopolje were parked by the road. Some people, holding their hands up, were standing next to the buses. I took a quick look at them, but I did not dare look any longer,” the witness said.

The trial will continue on August 23.