Bosniak Boy Saw Fighter Kill Father and Grandfather

The protected witness codenamed S-1 told the Sarajevo court on Thursday that he was 16 years old at the beginning of the war. When the violence started in the summer of 1993, his family went to the village Prajn, where it was safer.

“There are five cottages, which belonged to my grandmother, grandfather and one cousin. My father was in the house with my sisters, and I was sleeping outside with my mother and two brothers,” the witness explained.

He said that he heard shots on the morning of July 19, and then saw defendant Nikola Maric, alias ‘Kobra’, who was wearing a black uniform, taking his father, sister, grandfather and grandmother from the house.

“They were beating my grandfather and father, I was watching it from 20 to 30 away,” the witness recalled.

He said the fighters made his grandfather carry bags that were so heavy that he could not walk.

“Kobra said: ‘He should not go any further. I will take care of him now.’ He hit him with a gun in the head, my grandfather fell down there and stayed there,” the witness recalled.

He said that Maric continued to beat his father and took him away to a hill, not far from the houses. In a meantime, Maric went with another three or four soldiers to the witness’s cousin’s house and took him to a stable.

“Nikola Maric fired at my cousin with a rifle, right in the head. My father was being guarded by the soldiers at that moment. Nikola went back to my father, took the rifle and shot him directly in the head and my father fell down,” the witness said.

He said that they were later hid in a neighbouring village, but were captured and detained at the fire station in Prozor and then at a school in the town, where he was assaulted by the defendant.

“He was hitting me with different things – the butt of a gun, boots, and fists. My back was all black and blue. He once kicked me, I went from one side of the room to another,” the witness said.

Maric, a former member of the Croatian Defence Council, is charged with participating in murders, torture and other inhumane acts from November 1992 to October 1993.

Another witness, identified only by the initials I. S., also testified at Thursday’s hearing, saying that his brother was killed by Maric in the village of Prajn.

“Nikola Maric came to the village with other fighters. I went out of the house and some fighters arrested me and took me towards the house of a relative. When we approached [the house], I saw my cousin had been killed,” the witness said.

At that moment, his brother and the defendant approached him.

“I saw Maric taking a small-calibre rifle and shooting at his forehead,” the witness recalled.

He said that Maric also him that he had killed his father too.

Addresing the defendant directly in the courtroom, the witness said: “Maric, do you see me? Here, I am watching you and you cannot look at me. Maric, this is all true.”

The trial continues on September 18.