Kuvelja: Burst Fire Opened at Prisoners
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Protected witness KB-116, a former member of the Jahorina Training Centre with the Special Police Brigade of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Republika Srpska, MUP of RS, said that he saw indictee Bozidar Kuvelja being assigned with a machine gun in front of the Co-operative building, as per an order by Commander Nedjo.
I heard shooting. Several people were shooting. I heard several bursts of fire, the witness said.
Kerim Celik, Defence attorney of Kuvelja, asked the witness if he could tell the difference between shooting from an automatic rifle and machine gun. The witness responded by saying that he was not competent for that.
Testifying for the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina in November last year, the protected witness said that indictee Kuvelja was ordered to shoot at about 30 prisoners, who had been taken outside of the warehouse.
As far as I can remember, after the shooting had stopped, no other gunshots were heard. I did not see anyone killing those people after the shooting, the protected witness, who testified under the pseudonym of KB-116, said.
Kuvelja is charged with having participated, along with other members of the Jahorina Training Centre, in the shooting of more than a thousand captured Bosniaks on July 13, 1995. Also, he is charged with having participated in the shooting of about 100 survivors in the Kravica Co-operative. Those men were allegedly cheated by being told to come out in order to receive medical assistance.
As he continued testifying, the protected witness said that he was brought to the Jahorina Training Centre from Serbia as a deserter, just like indictee Kuvelja.
We came as deserters. Deserters were men, who did not want to participate in the war, the witness said, adding that he knew the indictee as a good guy.
The trial is due to continue on March 6 this year.A.J.
