Bosniak Survived Serb Mass Execution at Mosque
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The prosecution witness, who testified under the codename S-1, recalled that on the morning of July 23, 1992, a man arrived at his house in Carakovo and ordered him out onto the road, where other Bosniaks from the village were waiting.
They lined us all up and held us at gunpoint, and then one of them asked, Cica, what are we going to do with all these people?, and the man replied: Take them all to the mosque, let them pray to Allah, kill them all, the witness told the court in Sarajevo on Friday.
He said that when they entered the mosques yard, a man tried to escape, but a soldier shot him. After that, the witness said, the execution began.
I stared death in the eyes. The dark haired one some called him Mrdja, some Babin shot me. It was slaughter. [Villager] Zekir Music pleaded with them not to do it, but they killed him too. They shot for pleasure, just to kill, said the witness.
He said that 11 men were killed. Then the soldiers robbed the dead men, entered the mosque and torched it.
When they set the mosque on fire, the debris started falling on us. It was horrible, said S-1, adding that after that he fainted.
When he came to, the witness said he heard the voice of a man who was wounded. S-1 recalled seeing the body of his brother with his entrails all out and a Muslim cleric who had died after being shot in the mouth.
S-1 said although he was wounded, he managed to crawl behind some bushes to hide.
This is where I heard the [fighters] vehicle return and open fire at the dead, he said.
The witness said that the man who ordered the execution was defendant Dragomir Soldat, explaining that he learned his name later, while he was a refugee.
Among the five soldiers who took the men to the mosque, the witness said he also recognised defendant Velemir Djuric.
I know him from before, we went to work together by bus, he worked at the cellulose factory, said S-1, who testified via video link from Switzerland.
The indictment says that on July 23, 1992, Babic (alias Babin) and Djuric, together with persons known only to them, under orders from Soldat (alias Cica), took men from their houses in Carakovo to the mosque, where they executed them.
The trial is set to resume on May 10.
