Hit by Indictee Maksimovic

Teufik Fific said that, on June 25, 1992 he was arrested, along with other local residents of Kukavice hamlet, Kotor village, and taken in front of Rasim Tatar’s house, where they were ordered to put their jewellery and money away.

“My father Idriz and my brothers, Ivica and Rudolf Matijevic, Vilic Resid and Nermin, KV-16, Semir Avdic were there. (…) We were brought in front of Stipe Zeba’s and Ante Zeba’s house. We had to squat, hold our hands up and look down,” the witness recalled.

He said that five men from his group were separated and taken behind Ante Zeba’s house, adding that a burst of fire was then heard from that place.

“They took us towards a hospital in Kotor-Varos. On our way they separated my youngest brother Ismet and Rudolf Matijevic, as well as some other people. (…) Hajro Terzic was lying in a puddle of blood on the bridge,” Fific recalled.

As he said, 29 people were killed on that occasion.

Fific said that men from Kukavice were taken to a canal in front of the lab building, where they were hit and killed, as well as mistreated.

“Everybody knows that I was the worst. (…) Dule Maksimovic hit me with a military boot,” the witness said.

Responding to questions by indictee Dusko Maksimovic, he said: “You did hit me, but I do not know whether you killed my brothers.”

Dusko Maksimovic is on trial for having participated in the detention, torture and other inhumane treatment of Bosniaks and Croats in Kotor-Varos. He is tried together with Savo Tepic, Dragoslav Bojic, Dusko Vujicic, Radojko Keverovic and Ilija Kurusic.

According to the charges, Tepic was Chief of the Public Safety Station, Bojic was Commander of the Police Station in Kotor-Varos, Vujicic was an active policeman, Maksimovic and Keverovic were reserve policemen, while Kurusic was member of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS.

Witness Fific said that the men from Kukavice were transferred from the hospital to a prison, near the Court building in Kotor-Varos, where living conditions were very bad, adding that they used to get one meal per day and that it was rotten.

The witness said that he was taken for an examination and that Dule Vujicic put a pistol on his head.

“I wish he had killed me, so I did not have to look at that anymore,” Fific said. He stayed in the prison until July 19, 1992.

Testifying at this hearing, protected witness KV-17 said that she was separated from her two children, aged four and one, and taken for an examination at the Police Station in Kotor-Varos. She said that they asked her to tell them where her husband was.

She was transferred from the Police Station to the prison near the Court building, where she was held for three nights. She said that the guards treated her in a correct manner, adding that she was not physically abused.

The trial is due to continue on January 26.