Helping Bosniaks Leave Bijeljina

Kicanovic, who was Director of the town hospital at the time, described the conflict in Bijeljina as a consequence of actions by “Muslim extremists”, who “blocked the streets and shoot at people randomly”.

After he had been shot at, the witness fled to nearby Dvorovi village. He returned to Bijeljina on April 3, 1992, when “the blockade was lifted” after street fights, and saw that the accusations by Sarajevo-based media about “a massacre against thousands of people” were untrue.

The indictment charges Karadzic, the then President of Republika Srpska, with the persecution of Muslims and Croats from 20 municipalities throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, including Bijeljina.

According to the charges, Serb forces, including paramilitary forces led by Zeljko Raznatovic, known as Arkan, killed 48 civilians in Bijeljina on April 1 and 2, 1992.

When asked by Prosecutor Catrina Gustafsson why he failed to mention Raznatovic and his paramilitary forces, Kicanovic said that they were present in Bijeljina, but he did not see them during the combat, because he was out of town.

“Raznatovic’s wounded soldiers were treated at the Bijeljina hospital. Their leader paid for that,” the witness said.

Raznatovic, against whom The Hague Tribunal filed an indictment for war crimes, was killed in Belgrade in 2000.

Witness Kicanovic confirmed that he asked the local Serb officials to “prevent the pillaging of Muslim houses” during a visit by Biljana Plavsic and Fikret Abdic, members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“I told a man, whose name I cannot remember: ‘Come on, please protect the Muslim people’”, the witness said, adding that, “the whole time” they kept receiving Karadzic’s instructions about the humane treatment of civilians.

However, Kicanovic denied that Serb paramilitary forces deported Muslims from Bijeljina, saying that they “left the area, where combats were conducted and where they were no longer a majority”.

Prosecutor Gustafsson then presented the witness with a series of UN documents about the deportation of 2,500 Muslims from Bijeljina in the summer of 1994, adding that protests were sent to Karadzic because of that.

Also, Kicanovic was presented with an insert from a meeting at which Serb citizens informed the participants that Vojkan Djurkovic, who was close to Raznatovic, was “forcing Muslims to leave the town barefoot”.

While confirming that Djurkovic “did such things, as an individual”, the witness said: “He used to take Muslims to the division line, but not in order to deport them, but help them leave the Bijeljina territory… It was not about deporting people, but helping them to leave and go wherever they wanted”.

According to Kicanovic, who met Karadzic on several occasions, the Bosnian Serb leader called for pacification of tensions during the tense situation in Bijeljina and “sincerely wanted to prevent the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina”.

While claiming that Karadzic advocated for the stay of civilians in their houses, Kicanovic told the indictee: “You often said: ‘The war will pass soon, but we have to live with each others’.”

Second Defence witness Desimir Sarenac, former VRS officer, denied allegations related to terror against civilians in Sarajevo through constant and non-selective shelling from Serb positions around the city.

Sarenac, the then Security Officer of the Sarajevo Brigade of VRS, said that artillery forces only responded to fire opened by the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina from the city and that they did not target civilian buildings.
The witness further suggested that ABiH shelled its own citizens in order to lay blame on the Serb side and provoke an international intervention against it.

The trial of Karadzic, who is also charged with genocide in Srebrenica and taking UNPROFOR members hostage, is due to continue on March 7, when prosecutors will complete the cross-examination of Sarenac.