Tripkovic: Murder in Front of Courtyard

Witness Nedjo Kovac told the Court that when he got to the courtyard of Vejsil Delic, his next door neighbor, he saw his wife Hasnija, who was crying and shouting: “Vejsil got killed!”

“Vejsil was lying dead on the street, three metres from his courtyard gate. I noticed blood on his head. I saw a wound on his temple. About 15 minutes passed from the moment I heard the gunshot to the moment I went out to the street. Hasnija told me that he had been killed by Tripkovic, whom I did not see,” witness Kovac recalled.

Novica Tripkovic, former member of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, is charged with having killed Vejsil Delic in Donje Polje, Foca municipality, in June 1992. The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina also charges him with having raped and physically and mentally abused injured party A1 from April to June 1992.

The witness said that Delic’s body, which was covered with a blanket, remained in the street for some time, adding that he was present when he was buried next to the mosque.

Witness Kovac said that he heard that indictee Tripkovic used to come to injured party A1’s house, but he did not know if anything else happened.

Witness Zoran Vladicic, a former policeman from Foca, also testified at this hearing. He said that he didn’t know indictee Tripkovic well, explaining that he served his sentence in the Foca prison and that he saw him once during the course of the war. The witness said that the indictee was dressed in camouflage uniform and he had a fur cap on his head when he saw him.

The trial is due to continue on April 12 this year, when protected witness A1 will testify.

A.J.