Vranjes et al: Shooting at Memorial

First Prosecution witness Viktor Grgic said that indictees Vranjes and Milic, who were accompanied by Markovic, came to collect him and his brothers, who were in home detention, on June 6, 1992, and ordered them to come with them. The witness said that Markovic and Vranjes were armed.

“I thought they were taking us to jail, but they moved towards the fallen soldiers’ monument, where they told us to get out of the car. Markovic walked in front of us. He then got his gun ready for shooting. I said: ‘let’s run away’. He then shot at me, hitting my hands. I saw Markovic shooting at my brothers, but I did not stop running,” the witness said.

The indictment alleges that on June 6, 1992, Vranjes, former member of the Public Safety Centre in Banja Luka, and Milic, former member of “7551 Military Post in Banja Luka”, came to a house where three civilians were detained and ordered them to come for an examination.

The civilians carried out the order. The indictment further alleges that two prisoners were killed next to the monument, while the third was severely wounded.

Goran Markovic, former member of the “7551 Military Post in Banja Luka”, was originally charged under the same indictment for shooting at the prisoners who were brought to the monument. However, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina separated his case from the case of the two other indictees.

The witness said that he did not know if Vranjes also shot at his brothers, but he confirmed that he heard a bursts of bullets while he was running towards the river Vrbanja.

“I was running away down the hill. I then fell into River Vrbanja. I was in a state of shock. I spent the night in a hamlet. I then started to look for my family. I recovered within seven days, but nothing mattered, because they killed my brothers,” Grgic said.

The Defence of indictee Milic asked the witness whether the indictee mistreated him during his stay in the police station or home detention. The witness said that he was never subjected to any “unpleasant” things by indictee Milic.

“I suppose that they killed them because they thought we had money. I was a known restaurant owner, a respected citizen and, finally, there was that ethnic cleansing too,” Grgic said.

The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina played a video recording made by the District Prosecution in Banja Luka, showing the place at which Viktor Grgic was wounded and his brothers killed.

Indictee Milic asked the witness if he remembered that, a few days prior to the event in question, they “had coffee and watched a football game” together in Tesic’s family house, where the Grgic brothers were held under house arrest. The witness responded by saying that he did not remember.

The trial is due to continue on May 17, when two Prosecution witnesses will be examined.

S.U.