Burnt inside a House

Witness S-6 said that her parents were killed on May 22, 1992, adding that she was 15 months old at the time. The information she has obtained from her relatives and neighbours suggests that her mother was pregnant when she was killed, and that her father was killed, along with other men, on a nearby hill.

“A cousin of mine told me that a man named Dragan Sekaric had killed my mother,” witness S-6 said, adding that her mother was found burnt inside her house.

She said that she was saved by “a lady”, who handed her over to her relatives.

The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, BiH, charges Dragan Sekaric, former member of the Territorial Defence and the “Osvetnik” (“Revenger”) paramilitary formation, with having participated in an attack on Kokino Selo (Lozje), mistreatment of civilians in front of Bakir Hasecic’s house in Visegrad, rape of witness S-1, murder of a large number of non-Serb civilians and physical mistreatment of detainees in Uzanica detention camp.

Second State Prosecution witness Elvid Culov recalled having fled from Kokino Selo towards River Drina along with other local residents on May 22. As he said, uniformed soldiers, who had “White Eagles” marks and white bands on their left sleeves, conducted the attack on the village.

Culov said that some of his neighbours were wounded on that occasion and that he found out, later on, that some were killed, while a group of the local residents was captured. As he said, he could not remember many things that happened at that time, because he was 22 years old.  

Culov said that he knew indictee Dragan Sekaric, adding that he was a neighbour of his, but he did not see him on the day of the attack.

Third Prosecution witness Sefket Jamak told the Court that his wife Fatima was killed in Kosovo Polje village, Visegrad, where they had lived until 1992.

Jamak said that he was hiding next to a garage for days, because unknown soldiers used to come to the village and confiscate money and cars. As he said, two soldiers came to his house in June 1992 and confiscated his wife’s car.

“I came out, when they left. My wife told me that she recognised my student Radojica Lipovac,” Jamak said, adding that his wife then went to their neighbour, in front of Bakir Kos’ house, “in order to recover from the shock”.

Jamak said that, about two hours later, while he was hiding in his shelter, he heard somebody ordering his wife, who was crying, to “go inside”. He said that he then heard two gunshots.  

“When I came out, the house was on fire,” Jamak said, explaining that he found out from his neighbours three days later that his wife was burnt inside the hosue.  

Jamak said that he and a few neighbours found several bones, two bullet capsules and his wife’s brooch. “I do not know who the killer is,” Jamak said, adding that his father was slaughtered in that village during that same night.
 
The trial of Sekaric is due to continue on May 5.