Karadzic: Bursts of Bullets Heard in Village

In his written statement, which the Prosecution presented at this hearing, witness KDZ-075 said that local Serb soldiers came to Biljani on July 10, 1992 and escorted all Bosniak men to a local school building.

Besides soldiers, special and military policemen were present as well. Witness KDZ-075 said that he recognised Mile Tomic, Commander of the Police Station, from which Bosniaks had been fired in late May. About 50 men from Biljani were detained in one classroom. A list of prisoners was made. Names of about ten Bosniaks were then read out. When they went out, gunshots were heard.

“The same thing happened a few more times. People, who were in the classroom, started panicking. When my turn came, they took me out and made me go between two lines of policemen, who hit us with legs, sticks and chains on our way to the bus. When the bus had been filled with people, I heard someone asking: ‘What shall we do with the others?’ and someone telling him: ‘One bus is enough. Kill all of them’,” the witness said.

Karadzic, former President of Republika Srpska, is charged with persecution and genocide in Kljuc municipality and the murder of 144 Bosniaks on July 10, 1992. Besides that, Karadzic is charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and violation of the laws and customs of war.

On its way to Kljuc, the bus was stopped by military policemen, who took four men from Biljani out. A short time later four more men, including witness KDZ-075, were taken out.

“They took us to a house, where there was a cafe. We saw corpses of the four men, whom they had taken out before taking us. Then they started shooting. I fell down, pretending that I was dead. I heard them kill the other men. The bus left and bursts of bullets could be heard throughout the village,” witness KDZ-075 said, adding that “trucks and machines arrived” later on that day. He said that they “collected corpses the whole night”.

Prosecutor Ann Sutherland presented the witness with a list of 122 men from Biljani. He confirmed that “all of them were killed in 1992”.

KDZ-075 pointed out that “not one single bullet was fired” from the village, because, in the spring and summer of 1992 Bosniaks handed their weapons to Serb soldiers, who told them that the village would be shelled otherwise.

During the first part of the hearing today Karadzic completed the cross-examination of witness KDZ-239, who spoke about the persecution, unlawful detention and the murder of Bosniaks in Foca. Karadzic said that he “did not know” what was happening in Foca in the spring of 1992, adding that he was “charged with the things that local Serbs and Muslims had been doing to each others for ages”.

However, the witness stuck to his statement that the persecution of Bosniaks from Foca was conducted under the supervision of the Crisis Committee with the Serbian Democratic Party, SDS, whose President was Karadzic.

Responding to Karadzic’s allegation that Bosniaks were released from the Penal and Correctional Facility in Foca, witness KDZ-239 said that it was not true, adding that prisoners were taken out and killed.

The trial of Karadzic is due to continue on Monday, September 19.

R.M.